For the First Time in Generations, Americans Fear Having No Food

The COVID Impact Survey aims to provide an ongoing assessment of the nation’s mental, physical and financial health during the pandemic.

The COVID Impact Survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation finds that across the country, worries about having enough to eat are adding to the anxiety of millions of people, the survey found 37% of unemployed Americans ran out of food in the past month and 46% said they worried about running out. The survey aims to provide an ongoing assessment of the nation’s mental, physical and financial health during the pandemic.

Two in 10 working adults said that in the past 30 days, they ran out of food before they could earn enough money to buy more. One-quarter worried that would happen.

There is no parallel in U.S. history for the suddenness or severity of the economic collapse, which has cost more than 36 million jobs since the virus struck says the report. The nationwide unemployment rate was 14.7% in April, the highest since the Great Depression. While many Americans believe they will be working in the coming months, unemployed Americans — those most likely to report running out of food — aren’t as optimistic.

The likelihood of unemployed people returning to work depends heavily on whether states can restart their economies without creating new surges in COVID-19 infections, said Gabriel Ehrlich, an economic forecaster at the University of Michigan. He said most layoffs are expected to be temporary. But he worries that many small businesses will fail while fewer new ones take their place, and that state and local governments won’t get federal help to avoid furloughs.