US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans have lost their jobs, which has increased the burden on food-supply charities by 70% since the outbreak began. This was reported by Business Insider.
According to the author of the article, about 95% of all food banks in the non-profit Feeding America network faced this problem. At the same time, many fear that they will not have enough money for all those in need, whose number is growing if the self-isolation regime continues.
The head of the food bank in San Antonio, Eric Cooper, said that he had never seen such huge lines of groceries. According to him, before the bank in San Antonio served about 60 thousand people a week, but now this number has increased to 120 thousand.
He stressed that before starting to decrease, the lines would first become longer, and the organization should be ready to feed them. He noted that the problem is whether there will be enough products for everyone and admitted that he simply “hopes for a miracle”.
At the same time, Feeding America, a non-profit network, believes that in the near future about 17.1 million American citizens will begin to experience food shortages. Katie Fitzgerald, vice president and chief operating officer of the charity network, said that the coronavirus pandemic created an unprecedented situation that has not happened in all 50 years of the network’s operation.
Also in charity organizations note that in addition to fears of a shortage of products, they have already faced a shortage of workers and volunteers, many are afraid to catch the infection. There is also a lack of personal protective equipment: medical masks and gloves.
Earlier on April 23, it was reported that the US Department of Labor published a report on the number of applications for unemployment benefits . According to the agency, for the week ending April 18, 4.4 million people in the country applied for benefits.
The total number of unemployed, taking into account the submitted applications for benefits, has already exceeded 33 million. This means that the unemployment rate in the country has reached 20.6% – this is the highest figure since 1934. It is noted that in 1933, during the Great Depression, the unemployment rate reached 24.9%.
Earlier, on April 22, more than 40% of US residents admitted that they had lost their jobs or faced salary reductions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Johns Hopkins University, which makes calculations based on summaries of US authorities, the World Health Organization and other official sources, more than 841.5 thousand cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded in the United States. 46 769 people died, 152 286 recovered.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.