Food Insecurity Trajectories in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic
ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 20 — January 19, 2023
PEER REVIEWED
Figure 1.
Prevalence of any food insecurity among respondents (N = 7,944) to the Understanding America Study, Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey, April 2020 through March 2021. Shading indicates 95% CIs.
2020, % (95% CI) | 2021, % (95% CI) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar |
20.4 (18.9-22.0) | 13.1 (11.9-14.4) | 10.8 (9.7-12.0) | 9.8 (8.7-10.8) | 11.3 (10.2-12.5) | 10.6 (9.4-11.7) | 9.1 (8.1-10.2) | 8.6 (7.6-9.6) | 10.0 (8.9-11.1) | 9.5 (8.4-10.6) | 9.5 (8.4-10.7) | 8.9 (7.8-10.0) |
Figure 2.
Probability of experiencing food insecurity among respondents (N = 7,944) to the Understanding America Study, Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey, April 2020 through March 2021. Three categories (remained secure, remained insecure, and remained elevated) were characterized as consistent. Two categories (initial shock 1 and initial shock 2) were characterized by a rapid decline in food insecurity status between March and July 2020. Three categories (recovering 1, recovering 2, and recovering 3) were defined as having experienced food insecurity initially, with the likelihood steadily declining during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two categories (became insecure 1 and became insecure 2) were defined as steadily becoming food insecure during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Abbreviation: FDA, Food and Drug Administration.
Trajectory | 2020 | 2021 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | |
Remained secure | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Initial shock 1 | 64.3 | 38.3 | 17.6 | 6.9 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Initial shock 2 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Remained elevated | 13.6 | 12.9 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 10.6 | 9.8 | 9.3 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 7.5 |
Recovering 1 | 73.3 | 66.3 | 58.6 | 50.4 | 42.3 | 34.5 | 24.3 | 18.7 | 14.2 | 10.7 | 7.9 | 5.8 |
Recovering 2 | 81.0 | 79.0 | 76.8 | 74.5 | 72.0 | 69.4 | 65.2 | 62.3 | 59.3 | 56.2 | 53.0 | 49.9 |
Recovering 3 | 98.8 | 98.3 | 97.6 | 96.7 | 95.4 | 93.7 | 89.8 | 86.3 | 81.7 | 76.0 | 69.3 | 61.6 |
Remained insecure | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Became insecure 1 | 23.7 | 26.6 | 29.8 | 33.1 | 36.6 | 40.3 | 46.0 | 49.9 | 53.8 | 57.6 | 61.4 | 65.0 |
Became insecure 2 | 53.9 | 61.5 | 68.6 | 74.9 | 80.3 | 84.8 | 89.9 | 92.4 | 94.3 | 95.8 | 96.9 | 97.7 |
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