Abstract
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), State governments, and school districts took unprecedented steps to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on students’ nutrition. To examine the effect of emergency responses on 6-year-old children’s nutritional outcomes, this study analyzed longitudinal data from a national study of children’s feeding practices, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (WIC ITFPS-2). Findings include no differences in food insecurity prevalence; however, there were shifts in sources of food, with children in the post-COVID-emergency-declaration (post-ED) group consuming more dietary energy from stores and community food programs and less from restaurants and schools than children in the pre-COVID-emergency-declaration (pre-ED) group (p < 0.01 for all comparisons). Examination of within-person mean differences in 2015 Healthy Eating Index scores and nutrient intakes between ages 5 and 6 years revealed few statistically significant differences between the two groups: children in the post-ED group consumed slightly fewer vegetables (p = 0.02) and less sodium (p = 0.01) than their pre-ED peers. Findings suggest emergency efforts to maintain children’s nutrition were largely successful in the early months of the pandemic. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which emergency efforts contributed to these findings.
Highlights
IntroductionOn 13 March 2020, U.S President Donald J
The widespread closure of schools upended traditional modes of learning, but it disrupted the normal distribution of school meals to U.S students, including children in families with low incomes
Though the focus of this study is on the pre- and post-emergency declaration (ED) groups, there were some statistically significant changes in the WIC ITFPS-2 population between 60 and 72 months that provide context for more detailed analyses of the two groups at 72 months
Summary
On 13 March 2020, U.S President Donald J. Trump declared a national emergency in response to the deepening COVID-19 health crisis [1]. In the weeks that followed, many schools across the U.S closed their physical doors and transitioned to virtual learning in attempt to curb the spread of the virus. The widespread closure of schools upended traditional modes of learning, but it disrupted the normal distribution of school meals to U.S students, including children in families with low incomes. With over 29 million students in low-income families participating in school-based meal programs every day, innovative approaches to school meal distributions were urgently needed [2]. The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds meal distribution to elementary, middle, and high school students through a number of programs, including the National
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