Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 28;18(21):11350. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111350.
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) resulted in school closures and contingencies across the U.S. that limited access to school meals for students. While some schools attempted to provide alternative meal access points where students or parents could pick up meals, many students-especially those in low-income households-lacked adequate transportation to these access points. Thus, physical proximity to meal access points was particularly important during the pandemic. In this study, we explore how school meal access changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as it relates to race/ethnicity and socio-economic status. Taking into account both the "supply" (meal access points) and the "demand" (low-income students) for free meals, we employed a two-step floating catchment area analysis to compare meal accessibility in St. Louis, Missouri before and during the pandemic in the spring and summer of 2019 and 2020. Overall, while school meal access decreased during the spring of 2020 during the early months of the pandemic, it increased during the summer of 2020. Moreover, increased access was greatest in low-income areas and areas with a higher proportion of Black residents. Thus, continuing new policies that expanded access to school meals-especially for summer meal programs-could lead to positive long-term impacts on children's health and well-being.
SARS-CoV-2（COVID-19）导致美国各地学校关闭和采取应急措施，限制了学生获得学校餐食的机会。虽然有些学校试图提供替代的餐食获取点，让学生或家长可以领取餐食，但许多学生——尤其是那些低收入家庭的学生——缺乏足够的交通工具前往这些获取点。因此，在大流行期间，与餐食获取点的身体接近程度尤为重要。在这项研究中，我们探讨了在 COVID-19 大流行期间学校餐食获取方式的变化，特别是与种族/族裔和社会经济地位的关系。考虑到免费餐食的“供应”（餐食获取点）和“需求”（低收入学生），我们采用两步浮动集水区分析方法，比较了密苏里州圣路易斯市在 2019 年春季和夏季以及 2020 年春季和夏季大流行期间的餐食可及性。总体而言，尽管在大流行的早期阶段，2020 年春季学校餐食的获取量有所减少，但在 2020 年夏季有所增加。此外，在低收入地区和黑人群体比例较高的地区，获得的机会增加最多。因此，继续实施扩大学校餐食获取机会的新政策——特别是暑期餐食计划——可能会对儿童的健康和福祉产生积极的长期影响。
