One week ago, we published the first two Focus-19 reports on rising rates of food needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. One week later, the needs are even more profound. We’ve added more states – 23 now – and another 7 days of food requests to 2-1-1 helplines across the U.S. The chart below compares the number of requests for food pantries that 2-1-1s received March 12-25, 2020 versus the same 14 days in 2019. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Requests have at least doubled in every state, and increased 5-fold in over half the states.
