Wondering about WIC During the COVID-19 Crisis
What is WIC?
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly referred to as “WIC”, is a federal nutrition program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS). The WIC program serves pregnant or postpartum women, infants, and children under the age of five. Currently, there are over 6 million people enrolled in the WIC program and nearly half of all infants in the US are enrolled. Participation in the program is income-based and allows participants to receive supplemental monthly food benefits, nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding support, and community referrals to other assistance programs.
Programs like WIC are essential in ensuring families experiencing food insecurity have additional resources and access to nutritious foods each month. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, many people are now unemployed or furloughed which makes it challenging for some families to keep food on the table. Throughout the pandemic, employees of the WIC program continue to work to ensure these families have access to healthy foods.
WIC During COVID-19
The COVID19 crisis has shifted how many of us complete day-to-day activities. This includes the way that government programs, like WIC, have had to change their operations. USDA’s FNS has approved several waivers to WIC program guidelines to ensure continued access, while adhering to CDC safety recommendations to protect both WIC employees and participants. The authority to grant these waivers to the WIC program is the result of the passing of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act which passed in March. Despite waivers varying state-by-state, most states have been approved for the following three specific waivers through June 30, 2020:
1. Physical Presence Waivers
2. Remote Benefit Issuance Waivers
3. Food Substitution Waivers
Physical Presence Waiver
According to the usual policies and procedures, those applying to enroll in the WIC program must be physically present in the WIC office to complete their application. However, due to precautions surrounding the coronavirus, this policy has temporarily been lifted. Now, instead of coming into the local WIC office, anyone applying to the WIC program will have an appointment over the phone. An application can be completed without ever stepping foot in the physical WIC office ensuring safety for both the participant and WIC program staff.
Typically to assess for nutrition risk, an applicant must have their height, weight, and hemoglobin (a protein in the blood that can be an indicator of a person’s iron status) assessed in the WIC office at the time of their appointment. However, since physical presence is waived, so is the requirement of obtaining these laboratory values for enrollment in the program. This means as part of the nutrition screening, participants can self-report lab values, have their primary care physician fax this data to the WIC office, or entirely defer nutrition risk assessment based on laboratory values.
Remote Benefit Issuance Waiver
Each time a participant is in the office for an appointment, they are provided with three months of WIC EBT benefits, meaning that they will then be scheduled for a follow-up WIC appointment in three months. These appointments are either for certifications or mid-certifications where nutrition risk follow-ups are completed, or are for group nutrition education classes. There are very few and selective reasons why a participant can be issued remote benefits, since physical presence is required for all appointments. However, this waiver allows for all a client’s food benefits to be issued to their WIC EBT card remotely. This means that a client does not have to be present to sign for their benefits, like under normal conditions. With this waiver, WIC employees are allowed to sign for benefits in the participant’s place.
Food Substitution Waiver
While grocery shopping, you may have noticed short supply on some of your favorite, staple items. You may have also noticed some stores are placing limits on the number of certain products that you can purchase due to supply chain issues. WIC program participants are eligible to purchase very specific food items with their monthly benefits to ensure USDA nutritional guidelines are met and to ensure nutritional quality of food provided through the program. These WIC approved foods include fruits and vegetables, cereal, eggs, milk, whole grains, juice, and yogurt. For instance, with cereals, USDA has provided guidance that the only cereals on the shelf that have at least 28 mg of iron and no more than 21.2 g of sugar per 100g of cereal can be considered WIC eligible. These strict nutrition guidelines start to eliminate many food products on the shelves at grocery stores. This means that those using their WIC benefits to purchase food can only select certain brands, types, and sizes of food products for that item to be covered by their WIC benefits. With shortages across the nation, this places further limitations for WIC participants to use their benefits.
Given the supply issues, the Food Substitution Waiver allows WIC participants to purchase foods not usually allowed on the WIC program during these times of shortages. This waiver varies state-by-state, however, in most cases this pertains to eggs and milk. Under typical circumstances, WIC participants are prescribed a certain type of milk (whole milk, 1% milk, or Skim milk) they are eligible to purchase based on USDA guidelines regarding fat content of dairy products. However, in the absence of a participant’s typically prescribed type of milk, they can purchase the next closest fat content of milk with the issuance of this waiver. For instance, a one year old is typically prescribed whole milk, however if the store does not have whole milk, the participant is eligible to go out of their food prescription to purchase 2% milk. Similar to milk, eggs were one of the first items noted to be in short supply at grocery stores. Typically, WIC participants are eligible to purchase large, white eggs size A or AA. With current shortages, participants in Virginia, are now eligible to purchase brown, organic varieties, and a variety of sizes to ensure access to foods.
In a recent interview, Senior Public Policy Counsel, Brian Dittmeier, for the National WIC Association (NWA) put out guidance for non-WIC participants to be mindful of branding in the stores. Often, stores will have WIC stickers to help alert participants, and non-participants, of WIC approved food items in the stores. NWA suggests purchasing brands or sizes of food items that do not have that WIC sticker if there are other similar selections available if you are not using WIC benefits to purchase foods. This is to ensure that WIC participants have access to purchase foods within the strict guidelines set for the foods they are eligible to receive with their benefits, otherwise they would have to pay out of pocket for other brands or sizes of foods.
Despite the current climate surrounding the Coronavirus crisis, WIC is still working to ensure food security within communities with a few changes to policy and procedures. For more information on the WIC program, please visit https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic.