Mapping EBT Store Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Low-Income, Food-Insecure Community in San Diego

Lowery, Bryce; Swayne, Madison R. E.; Castro, Iana A.; Embury, Jessica

doi:10.5888/pcd19.210410

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Our findings also support the results from Lowery et al (2022) . These researchers found that food stores that accept EBT cards had closed in low-income food-insecure communities in San Diego.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…It is worth noting that in both studies, the commonalities were that the communities being discussed have People of Color residents and are low-income. Our findings also support the results from Lowery et al (2022). These researchers found that food stores that accept EBT cards had closed in low-income food-insecure communities in San Diego.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Furthermore, the highest proportion of closed businesses was in Chinese neighborhoods. Lowery et al (2022) studied the closure of food stores that accepted electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards in a low-income and food-insecure community in San Diego, California. The researchers found that 23 of 184 food stores closed during the pandemic.…”

Section: Impacts Of the Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Vanishing Food Infrastructure: The Closure of Food Outlets in Flint in a Pandemic Era

Bell

Taylor

2023

American Behavioral Scientist

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Most food access studies focus on large cities, examine traditional grocery stores, and only consider operational food outlets. This siloed approach exposes a gap in food access literature. Therefore, as a part of our assessment of Flint’s food landscape, we examined closed food outlets in the city and surrounding townships. We investigated the relationship between the racial composition of census tracts and the number and type of defunct food outlets identified. We used Data Axle to collect and verify data on open and closed food outlets between September 2020 and December 2021. We made a final verification of the food outlet closures in June 2022. We used ArcGIS 10.8.1 and SPSS Version 28 to map and analyze the data. We used negative binomial regression models to determine differences in the likelihood of having an additional closed food outlet in census tracts with low and high percentages of Black residents. We also investigated the relationship between a census tract’s median income and the likelihood of having an additional closed food outlet. There were 173 closed food outlets; 81 were in Flint, and 92 were in surrounding townships. The most frequently closed food outlets were restaurants; they accounted for 45.1% of the closures. The mean number of closed food venues in census tracts where less than 40% of the residents were Black was 1.5. The mean was similar in census tracts where 40% or more of the residents were Black; it was 1.6. This difference was not significant. However, the median income of a census tract was a significant predictor of the likelihood of having an additional closed food outlet. Every one-thousand-dollar increase in median income resulted in a 2% less likelihood of having an additional closed food outlet. The results of this study show that there is more to the food landscape of a city than its operational food outlets. Focusing exclusively on active food outlets does not accurately depict a city's food infrastructure.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Impacts Of the Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Vanishing Food Infrastructure: The Closure of Food Outlets in Flint in a Pandemic Era

Bell

Taylor

2023

American Behavioral Scientist

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“…The authors divided data on the pandemic into 5 time frames and examined how relationships between social determinants of health, chronic disease, and COVID-19 changed over time. Jansen et al tested whether the prevalence of respiratory illness was associated with COVID-19 mortality rates among older adults in Connecticut and Rhode Island (27). Educational attainment decreased the strength of the association, demonstrating that our understanding of COVID-19 outcomes can be improved by accounting for selected social determinants of health.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pandemic’s impact on food supply and affordability, concurrent with rising unemployment and mobility restrictions, made food access difficult for many households. Lowery et al used mapping to illustrate how the closure of food stores accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) via electronic benefits transfer (EBT) during the pandemic reduced food access within walking distance in a community in San Diego, California, where food insecurity was prevalent before the pandemic ( 28 ). Alternatively, Beese et al showed that food access for SNAP participants in Washington State during the pandemic was enhanced by expanding food delivery services ( 29 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Geospatial Perspectives on the Intersection of Chronic Disease and COVID-19

2022

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Impact of food insecurity and food environment on the diet quality of older African Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kibe,

Schrode,

Bazargan

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionA high quality diet is vital in promoting wellbeing and ensuring good health, particularly for those living with chronic conditions. Older African Americans, already burdened with a higher prevalence of chronic conditions, also face a higher risk for suboptimal diets. The COVID-19 pandemic had lasting effects on access to healthy food for all Americans, but some demographic groups were disproportionately affected. Older African Americans, who already experienced reduced access to healthy food pre-pandemic, were particularly afflicted, but the full extent of the pandemic's impact on their food insecurity and food environment remains unclear.MethodsTo address this gap, we conducted a study among 102 older African Americans in South Los Angeles between October 2021 and July 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed surveys on dietary intake, food insecurity, and neighborhood food environment. We measured dietary quality using the healthy eating index (HEI)-2015. The analysis included descriptive, bivariate chi-square, t-tests, analysis of variance, and multiple linear and logistic regression.ResultsWhile overall dietary quality was suboptimal, most participants met the guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption. Food insecurity was associated with lower overall diet quality and lower total fruit and whole fruit intake. However, there was no association between food environment and diet quality.DiscussionIn light of our findings, further intervention is critical to improving diet quality, especially among older African Americans living with chronic conditions in the post-pandemic era.

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Mapping EBT Store Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Low-Income, Food-Insecure Community in San Diego

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

A Vanishing Food Infrastructure: The Closure of Food Outlets in Flint in a Pandemic Era

A Vanishing Food Infrastructure: The Closure of Food Outlets in Flint in a Pandemic Era

Geospatial Perspectives on the Intersection of Chronic Disease and COVID-19

Impact of food insecurity and food environment on the diet quality of older African Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic

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