The Coronavirus has been starting to make its presence felt in Iowa. While we are nowhere near the levels of other countries and locations, some hard choices are already being made. The rest of the United States is having to make these same choices. While we are concerned with the prevention of the spread of the Coronavirus, we sometimes don?t think of all the ways lives are going to be affected. One of these places is in school lunches. There are schools in several states looking at shutting down for the remainder of the year and doing online classes in an attempt to help stop the spread of the disease. So how is the lunch program being affected?
We aren?t here to debate whether this is a policy which should be adopted everywhere, or if it is an overreaction. We are talking about the fact that it is happening in some areas and being considered in others. Some of the children there are dependent on the school lunch programs offered, especially in lower-income locations. For many of these children, it is the most nutrition they receive throughout the day. Many locations have school breakfast and lunch programs which also operate in the summer, so these low-income children can count on a good meal.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue talked about what the USDA can do to help. States normally are required to serve these meals in a group setting. However, in a disease outbreak, it is not feasible to have all these children together. This is where the states can apply for a waiver to be allowed to deliver meals individually, or through some other plan that the states devise. Secretary Perdue says they need to make sure kids are still getting the nutrition they need, even if they cannot safely attend school.
Perdue says that the law states that states must first make the waiver request. The USDA cannot make the decision broadly. They must first receive a request. Perdue added that states have already been told to expect a favorable response in the event a request is made. The USDA wants this to be as simple a process as possible.
Perdue says that while the USDA would love to have the authority of a broad stroke response, he told the House Appropriations Committee that USDA would most likely get themselves in trouble if they tried to overstep their bounds.
Secretary Perdue did remind the committee that the house had authorized a ?PSNAP? program during the days of H1N1. It was meant to help in the case of a pandemic outbreak but was never used. Perdue said the House may want to revisit that type of program again.
Secretary Perdue says if there ever was a time for bipartisanship, it is now when we must find ways to keep children fed during a critical time.
