by Nicole Harris | Staff Columnist
Coronavirus: the great equalizer.
Circulating in the media are a number of buzzwords surrounding the novel coronavirus— all of which focus our attention to the rising death toll and the consequences we will suffer economically. While this crisis has forced many Americans to face, possibly for the first time, food insecurity, has this virus really equaled us?
According to The New York Times, there used to be 130 million individuals at risk of starvation globally in 2019. Now, there may be as many as 265 million within the next six months. These individuals are not only food insecure— they are on the brink of death. Rather than expect this issue to dissipate as coronavirus concerns come to an end, we must recognize that many will remain food insecure despite the end of this pandemic. Idealizing normalcy, or what the world was like prior to this pandemic, will not aid us in our recovery from it.
A whopping 78% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck according to Forbes. Not all of those individuals are considered food insecure, but with the unemployment rate continuing to skyrocket and food scarcity becoming a new reality, more and more Americans will inevitably face hunger. It is not enough to add more money to the economy, what needs to be shifted is the mindset of Americans. This is an opportunity for us to see how well we as a society have prepared for a financial emergency. The same survey revealed that one in ten Americans making $100,000 or more do not save for the future. Because of this, those who should have been able to weather this financial stress are forced to confront the same issues lower- and middle-class Americans face on a weekly basis. While this may seem to have equalized us in terms of money, poorer Americans are only getting poorer.
According to The Guardian, economic experts expect food prices to climb as food shortages arise. While again this affects everyone, not just the United States, it will most negatively affect those already concerned about feeding themselves and their families. Just as with other crises brought to light by coronavirus, this is one that has existed in the shadows for a long time. Even though everyone is being affected by coronavirus, regardless of class, one cannot assume that this has equaled us. Rather, this virus has shown us just how unequal our systems have made us.