Measuring Food Insecurity during the COVID‐19 Pandemic of Spring 2020

TLDR

The spring 2020 COVID‑19 pandemic caused high unemployment, rising food prices, and business sales losses, likely increasing food insecurity in U.S. households. The study aims to measure food insecurity in May 2020 using an internet survey methodology. The authors used an opt‑in panel internet survey, a rapid method previously validated to approximate government food‑insecurity estimates.

Abstract

Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 resulted high levels of unemployment, higher food prices, and loss of business sales. This deterioration in households' financial status likely increased food insecurity in the US, but by how much? While the US government will not measure food insecurity until December of 2020, previous research has developed a methodology whereby internet surveys that can be rapidly deployed using opt‐in panels can approximate government numbers. We employ this methodology to measure food insecurity in May of 2020. Results suggest that while there is little to no detectable rise in food insecurity for all households, the percent of households with children classified as food insecure is about three percentage points higher than it was in 2016 and 2017.