Children May Miss Meals As School Food Service Workers Fall Ill | 89.3 KPCC

Children May Miss Meals As School Food Service Workers Fall Ill | 89.3 KPCC

Children May Miss Meals As School Food Service Workers Fall Ill

In Clark County, Nev., the nation's fifth-largest school district, a school food service worker has reportedly died of COVID-19. That death is one of around 40 recorded in the state of Nevada as of Friday afternoon.

Just a few weeks ago NPR reported on the swift efforts to continue to get meals to children and their families, as schools shut their doors in response to the spreading coronavirus. The school lunch program in typical times feeds nearly 30 million U.S. children.

Now those efforts seem to be faltering. Across the country, in Detroit, Raytown, Mo., Tonganoxie, Kan., Pasadena, Calif., Memphis, Tenn., and Kanawha County, W.Va., school districts have stopped or scaled back meal distribution to families in need, at least temporarily, as their food service workers test positive or are suspected of having coronavirus.

Houston Independent School District is relaunching its service with new safety protocols. Memphis schools haves partnered with the YMCA to resume food service there. Some districts in Louisiana and Texas are getting help from a program out of Baylor University that is mailing shelf-stable food directly to families.

In other places, districts say they're scaling back food offerings simply because they've run out of money. St. Landry Parish in rural Louisiana said they were looking for partners to keep feeding families. The $2 trillion federal coronavirus rescue CONTINUE READING: Children May Miss Meals As School Food Service Workers Fall Ill | 89.3 KPCC