COVID-19 leaving some Americans sick and hungry
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. The COVID-19 pandemic is not just making Americans sick, it’s leaving many hungry as well, and experts who gathered for a Harvard Chan School forum on the problem said that legislation to relieve the pandemic’s economic burden may be able to help. Sara Bleich, professor of public health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, said the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, has already been used to help low-income and newly unemployed Americans in pandemic relief legislation approved by Congress and signed by President Trump. SNAP can be boosted again in a future bill, she said,...