Zafari Zafar, Cohen Juliana F W, Sessom-Parks Leslie, Lessard Donovan, Cooper Michele, Hager Erin
Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, Baltimore, MD.
Department of Public Health and Nutrition, School of Health Sciences, Merrimack College, Andover, MA.
J Sch Health. 2023 May;93(5):386-394. doi: 10.1111/josh.13299. Epub 2023 Feb 24.
The public health policies and school closures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have created disruptions in school meal programs. Research is needed to understand the changes in school food service revenue before and during the initial Covid-19-related school shutdowns.
A longitudinal cohort study examining federal and state reimbursements as well as sales revenues for all public local education agencies (LEAs) in Maryland from school years (SY) 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 was conducted. Monthly changes in federal and state reimbursements for Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) were examined.
In the SY 2018-2019, the total revenues from federal and state reimbursements for SBP, NSLP, SFSP, and at-risk CACFP were $272.9 million; in comparison, for the SY 2019-2020, the total revenues were $241.8 million (11.4% reduction from SY 2018-2019). On average, the school shutdown (during March to June 2020) was associated with a $450,385 (p-value < .01) reduction in federal and state reimbursements per LEA-month (41% reduction).
The school shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic was associated with a statistically significant reduction in school food service revenues across Maryland's public LEAs.
应对新冠疫情的公共卫生政策和学校关闭对学校膳食计划造成了干扰。需要开展研究以了解在与新冠疫情相关的学校首次关闭之前及期间学校食品服务收入的变化情况。
开展了一项纵向队列研究，调查了马里兰州2018 - 2019学年和2019 - 2020学年所有公立地方教育机构（LEA）的联邦和州报销情况以及销售收入。研究了儿童营养计划（包括国家学校午餐计划（NSLP）、学校早餐计划（SBP）、暑期食品服务计划（SFSP）和儿童与成人护理食品计划（CACFP））的联邦和州报销的月度变化。
在2018 - 2019学年，SBP、NSLP、SFSP和高危CACFP的联邦和州报销总收入为2.729亿美元；相比之下，2019 - 2020学年的总收入为2.418亿美元（比2018 - 2019学年减少了11.4%）。平均而言，学校关闭期间（2020年3月至6月）每个LEA月的联邦和州报销减少了450,385美元（p值<0.01）（减少了41%）。
新冠疫情期间学校关闭与马里兰州公立LEA的学校食品服务收入在统计学上显著减少有关。
