The Need to Flatten Two Curves: A Look at COVID-19’s Impact on Food Security

Looking at COVID-19 as only a clinical crisis does not give the full picture.

We must acknowledge other factors of this pandemic’s effect on our well-being, the ripple effects that are changing our lives as much or more than the virus itself.

As devastating as the virus is to our nation, this social crisis may very well be with us long after the virus is controlled. While clinical care is important, non-clinical factors like housing, transportation, community safety and access to healthy food have more to do with how long and how well we live. For all of us, health happens where we live, learn, work and play. This concept is not new to health care nor to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) where we take a broad view of our role in improving the health of our communities.

COVID-19 isn’t affecting all of us equally and the differences can have long-term impacts, well after the immediate clinical crisis has passed. The social unrest that has embroiled large cities and small towns across the world recently makes clear that inequities cannot continue to be ignored. Now is the time to consider how the historic unemployment rates we face today and the inability of millions of Americans to afford food, housing and utilities due to COVID-19 will shape our nation in the years ahead.

Flattening the Food Insecurity Curve

We must all do our part to flatten the COVID-19 curve by maintaining social distance, washing our hands, wearing masks in public and following the CDC’s guidelines. According to current models by organizations like the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, these measures can flatten the COVID-19 curve over the course of months.

But just as citizens, employers and the health care system reacted to slow the spread of the virus, we need a similar response to address some of the pandemic’s fallout. Perhaps the most urgent issue is the food security of Americans.

If we look back to historical data from the 2008 recession, it took almost 11 years to return to baseline for food insecurity in the United States.

And that baseline was already tragically and unacceptably high.

Blue Cross NC has made food security a priority in our response to COVID-19. Clearly, a nutritious diet is central to our health. If we’re hungry or not eating the right foods, we can’t be healthy, and we face higher rates of disease. The problem is even worse for children, who have trouble learning when they aren’t well nourished.

As part of our COVID-19 relief efforts, Blue Cross NC announced $5 million to support organizations improving access to fresh, local foods in our state.

While this investment will address some immediate issues, it alone is not enough and we are committed to long-term solutions that remove barriers to the basic needs that largely determine our health. North Carolina is the 10th hungriest state in the nation. About 1.5 million of our neighbors here didn’t have enough food to eat before the COVID-19 economic downturn. Addressing these non-medical drivers of health can lower health care costs and improve the quality of life for all of us.

Beyond that, it’s the right thing to do.

Before, during, and after COVID-19 we’re continuing to focus on initiatives to strengthen the food system and we recognize we can’t do it alone. We are proud to support the network of nonprofits and community groups working every day to make life in North Carolina better for everyone. Our mission – to improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities – requires us to do more than simply pay our members’ medical bills.

You, too, can take up on this call to action by supporting Feeding the Carolinas, your local food bank, food pantry, or food hub developers, delivery services and high-need community meal providers.

This crisis has only reaffirmed our commitment to North Carolinians. Simply put, we won’t achieve our mission if we don’t flatten the food insecurity curve.