The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with federal partners to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a news release, the programs include:
- Beginning Feb. 25: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has been working to expand access to online purchasing for SNAP participants. The latest expansion is Food Lion, which plans to extend SNAP online purchasing to eight additional states beginning Feb. 25: Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia;
- USDA worked with the Department of Education to increase awareness of newly expanded SNAP eligibility guidelines for students;
- The USDA and FDA Underscore Current Epidemiologic and Scientific Information Indicating No Transmission of COVID-19 Through Food or Food Packaging;
- From Feb. 8-12, USDA Food and Nutrition Service approved Pandemic EBT to support children who are missing school meals due to closures in Minnesota, and Wisconsin. For the 2020-2021 school year, USDA has provided $5.9 billion in Pandemic EBT benefits to 7.1 million children in 15 states and territories; and
- USDA FNS has approved 47 states and territories for emergency allotments in SNAP, totaling $2.03 billion for the month of February 2021. FNS also approved one state for emergency allotments totaling $55,595,754 for the month of March 2021.
