America’s Food Banks Can’t Keep Up With Pandemic Demand
When TIME reporter Abby Vesoulis saw viral photos of the “miles-long lines of cars” waiting outside food banks across America, she knew there was a story to be told.
Vesoulis spoke to food bank operators in Ohio, Nevada, Illinois and Texas, and found that they’re struggling almost as much as the people turning to them for assistance in greater and greater numbers. Many of the millions of Americans who have lost jobs or income due to COVID-19 are seeking emergency support from food banks, often for the first time in their lives—but with demand surging, it’s not clear how long charitable organizations will be able to meet it, Vesoulis reports.
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, told Vesoulis the scramble to keep pace with need is like “a bucket brigade on a five-alarm fire.”
The strain on food banks is multifaceted. At the same time demand is surging, it’s getting harder than ever to keep shelves stocked. With most Americans cooking and eating at home, grocery stores and restaurants have fewer products to donate to charities. Some relief organizations have resorted to buying food at retail prices, but that puts an enormous—and unsustainable—squeeze on their already-tight budgets. To top it all off, the increased risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms among older Americans is leaving some food charities without a core bloc of their typical volunteer base.
With the pandemic’s end date far from clear, organizations are bracing themselves for months, if not years, of increased demand—and worrying about what happens when national attention shifts elsewhere. “I am worried about compassion fatigue,” says Kate Maehr, executive director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “I am very worried about what happens when the news camera crews leave.”
Nearly 870,000 people in the U.S. had contracted COVID-19 as of 8 PM eastern time yesterday, and almost 50,000 had died from it.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump signed into law a bill that provides nearly $500 billion in additional coronavirus aid. The funding is meant to assist cash-strapped small businesses and help hospitals extend the country’s testing capacity. But without money earmarked specifically for states, many local officials are calling on the federal government for assistance, arguing they can’t be expected to shoulder their economic burdens alone. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sparked widespread outcry when he suggested states should consider filing for bankruptcy.
Some states have taken economic recovery into their own hands. Georgia businesses began to reopen Friday after Gov. Brian Kemp lifted coronavirus containment restrictions there, against the advice of many public-health officials and President Trump. Even still, with infections and deaths continuing to accumulate in the state, some business owners have opted to remain closed as a precaution.
Experts today scrambled to issue PSAs after Trump wondered aloud at a press briefing yesterday whether injecting disinfectants into the body could treat coronavirus. There is no evidence to suggest this approach would work, and in fact good reason to think it could be deadly. “Not even a low dilution of bleach or isopropyl alcohol is safe,” pulmonologist Dr. John Balmes told Bloomberg. “It’s a totally ridiculous concept.” The parent company for Lysol also warned in a statement that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body.”
Trump also said during the briefing that applying heat and light to the body could potentially kill the virus—another untested practice that experts advise against.
Meanwhile, there’s new concern about hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug previously championed by Trump as a promising COVID-19 treatment. Scientists studying the drug as a possible COVID-19 therapy ended their trial early, citing “lethality as the primary outcome.”
The Global Situation
More than 2.7 million people worldwide had been infected with COVID-19 as of 8 PM eastern time yesterday, and more than 190,000 had died.
Here is every country with over 20,000 confirmed cases, as of yesterday at 8 PM eastern time:
As U.S. states ponder whether to follow Georgia’s footsteps in reopening, the Japanese island of Hokkaido has emerged as a cautionary tale. The island appeared to control infections after an initial three-week lockdown, but, after opening up again, it was hit by a second severe wave, forcing it to issue a second lock-down edict.
Experts are also cautioning world leaders against following New Zealand’s example—but for a very different reason. New Zealand has seen notably small numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to declare that the country was striving for total “elimination” of the virus. But experts warn that lessons from New Zealand—a wealthy, sparsely populated island nation—are likely not replicable elsewhere.
In Africa, national leaders continue to fight for ventilators and other critically needed medical equipment. Ten African nations do not own any ventilators, which could have devastating consequences for people there who get sick.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 23, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
How to Apply for a Small Business Loan
TIME reporter Tara Law has compiled a guide for small business owners seeking relief under the Paycheck Protection Program. Read more here.
Volunteers Are Making Sure COVID-19 Patients Don’t Suffer Alone
Groups across the country are distributing donated smart devices to hospitals so no patient has to suffer or die without seeing their family. Read more here.
Are your makeshift soup-can weights getting old? Check out TIME’s roundup of high-tech exercise equipment that will make your home gym rival the best the pros have to offer. Read more here.
Highlights from the First TIME 100 Talks
TIME (remotely) convened a meeting of the minds featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, John Legend, Angelina Jolie, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and more, focused on the way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. See the highlights here.
How the Amazon’s Indigenous People Are Handling the Threat of Coronavirus
Virtually every population has been touched by the COVID-19 pandemic—including indigenous groups who live in the Amazon rainforest. Read more here.
Meet Violet, the Coronavirus-Killing Robot
In a very 2020 twist, robots have officially joined the fight against COVID-19. Read more here.
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