A mom who relies on federal benefits can't get her groceries online, even though she had a fever and a cough: 'I'm confused, concerned, scared to death'
- As Americans are urged to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic, many are ordering groceries online for delivery or curbside pick-up to minimize their risk of infection.
- But that's not an option for Erica, mother to an 8-month-old son, who lost a month's worth benefits when she stayed home with symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
- Her story is similar to others on federal food assistance nationwide, who have to choose between shopping in person (often with children in tow) and risking potential infection, or staying home with an empty kitchen.
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These days, every grocery trip is a balance of risk assessment and hygiene for Erica, a mother in rural Oklahoma with a eight-month-old son.
They drive 45 minutes to the nearest Walmart. Once there, Erica picks out as many essential items as many as she can get. Throughout the trip, she sanitizes everything repeatedly — her hands, the cart handle — and tries to stay a safe distance away from other people, avoiding every occupied aisle, circling the store until she has everything she needs. Then she check outs with a cashier.
Online grocery shopping is soaring in the US, but Erica relies on WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) benefits, the federal assistance program that provides financial resources for nutritional purposes to low-income, nutritionally at-risk mothers of young children.
In Oklahoma, those benefits require that she be physically present inside the store to use her monthly $80 allotment to stock her kitchen. Curbside pickup, delivery, and even self-checkout aren't options for Erica, who has been relying on WIC since January 2019.
With the coronavirus pandemic spreading across the US — and talk that it could hit Southern states hard — Erica is nervous about so much personal contact, and bringing her infant son in with her, which she usually has to do unless she can get a family member to babysit.
"There's no provision in place for someone to do my shopping for me. I tried self-checkout once, when I first got the card, and it basically crashed their computer," Erica, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her family's privacy, told Insider via email. "My immune system isn't great. I'm confused, concerned, scared to death that my baby will get sick. Babies are dying from this now."
In-person shopping could expose families to risk, or force them to go out when they may be contagious
WIC benefits are a huge help for low-income families. They can be used to buy specific staple foods that are rich in nutrients, including infant formula, dairy products, bread, and vegetables.
But when Erica starting feel ill, there was no provision for someone else to do her shopping for her — the current system forced her to chose between going to the store with possible coronavirus symptoms, or forfeit her benefits for the month.
In early March, Erica started feeling ill with a fever, dizziness, digestive issues, and a persistent cough. Eventually, she called a COVID-19 hotline in mid-March and was advised to stay home, which she did until her symptoms began to ease at the end of the month.
But benefits on WIC cards don't roll over month to month, so if you're unable to get to the store or find eligible food, that month's assistance is lost. Erica missed the deadline and as a result, forfeited her monthly $80 allotment of groceries.
Since the end of March, Erica has been feeling better. Even so, grocery trips feel risky, especially with her baby.
Evidence suggests children aren't at a high risk of coronavirus infection, but infants under a year old could be susceptible because they haven't yet developed a strong immune system.
So as a breastfeeding mom, Erica feels constantly vulnerable. She worries every time her child coughs.
"We are at risk. If we could completely avoid going in the store, most of us would. And we definitely would rather not bring our kids in with us. It's not like we can leave them in the car. We can't leave them home," she said.
Others have shared similar stories of risking grocery trips
Erica is hardly the only person grappling with red tape.
"Every time you walk out of your house and go somewhere, the potential of bringing it back is there again," David Hensel, a single father-of-six who, like Erica, had to risk in-person trips to the store to feed his family, told the Chicago Tribune.
Michigan resident Joe Wright, whose family uses WIC, took to Twitter, urging the state to allow WIC-only shopping hours or online-ordering options to help keep WIC recipients and their children safe.
Politicians are taking issue with the current policies, too.
Michelle Andrews, who is running for a position in the Baltimore City Council in November, shared in a Medium blog post that her city was facing the same problem.
"Real talk: Baltimore's low-income families are hurting. They need access to healthy and nutritious food," Andrews wrote. "If there are already programs in place in other states that show promising results, why not implement them here in Baltimore?"
Federal policy limits WIC to retail-only in most states
Currently, almost every state requires that WIC services are used in a traditional retail setting — clients must shop in-person for their groceries, then check out with a cashier, according to Brian Dittmeier, senior public policy counsel with the National WIC Association.
"We hope that USDA will work with state WIC agencies to implement innovative strategies – such as curbside pickup – to streamline the shopping experience for WIC families," he told Insider.
State WIC programs could opt to change that, but would need federal approval, since the programs vary by state and even by retailer, Dittmeier said. "The decision is always with the USDA. If states or retailers are interested in exploring this, they still need USDA to sign off on it," Dittmeier said.
In a few states, other food assistance programs are available online. SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance Program) and EBT (financials benefits accessible via a card) recipients are eligible for grocery delivery on Amazon, and for delivery or curbside pickup services at as part of a pilot program in select states.
There have been some changes to WIC policies in light of the coronavirus. The USDA now allows states more flexibility when screening new candidates — they can conduct screenings remotely, or allow recipients to defer in-person assessments without losing benefits.
But a workaround for in-person shopping presents a different logistic challenge, which could take a while, judging how much time and effort went into getting the SNAP pilots up and running.
There are many cracks for WIC recipients to fall through
Some things are especially hard to adjust for in the new world of coronavirus.
WIC packages can vary from family to family based on the number of children and their ages. Typically, grocery store staff aren't specially trained on what is or isn't eligible for WIC, or how to substitute if things are out of stock, so there's not an easy one-size-fits-all grocery list for WIC delivery or pick up. And despite social media rumors about WIC starting on the first of the month, benefit cycles vary depending on state and when individual families signed up for the program.
All of this can make it a logistical challenge for WIC providers, representatives, and retailers to coordinate a transition to contact-less services.
"We continue to encourage participants to stay in constant contact with local agencies about developments in their community to expand allowable food options, and streamline the shopping experience," Dittmeier said.
Erica appreciates efforts to make things easier, but that doesn't change the fact that her options are extremely limited right now.
"Every other person has the option to order online and to pick up their groceries and not have to go in person into the store at all. Everyone, except us. They have a choice. We don't."
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