5 months of COVID-19: What needs are trending?

Americans’ needs for utility payment and rent assistance, low-cost housing and legal assistance all increased in Month 5 of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After 2-month decline, medical transportation needs rising

Requests to 2-1-1s for health services and medical transportation are rising in tandem. Before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, requests for medical transportation averaged between 80 and 100 requests a day. By April, they had declined to less than 40 requests per day, as in-person health care visits dropped. Requests to 2-1-1s for medical transportation are increasing again, and now average over 60 requests per day.

Do men and women call 2-1-1 for different reasons?

Americans calling 2-1-1 since COVID-19 are disproportionately women, but it varies a lot based on the caller’s needs. Nearly all requests (80-90%) for diapers and toilet paper, child care, and clothing and household items come from women.

Childcare and transportation

Until today, our Focus-19 space has highlighted social needs that have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. But some requests have actually declined. We examined requests to 2-1-1 helplines for transportation and childcare assistance and found that both are falling. The charts below show daily requests for childcare (top chart) and transportation (bottom chart) received by […]