More Americans shoplifting to survive coronavirus pandemic

Americans floundering under the economic strain of the coronavirus pandemic are increasingly turning to shoplifting amidst widespread food shortages, grocery store workers report.

With food charities seeing unprecedented demand from families and bread lines only growing longer during the holiday season, supermarkets -- also struggling to keep shelves fully stocked -- have noticed that patrons are increasingly committing petty theft.

In a new report from The Washington Post, one market manager said that items had begun to disappear at higher and higher rates, with thefts more than doubling.

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Food insecurity is at its highest level in years in places like Rhode Island, where one in four households is affected.

Reports from California, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, and other states indicate many of the people waiting for assistance never needed help before this year, when COVID-19 shuttered swaths of businesses and sent unemployment surging.

An October survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Danone North America's Two Good Yogurt found that 79% were struggling with food insecurity, 60% said the expiration of federal stimulus made it harder to put food on the table, and 37% have skipped meals in order to feed their children.

Since the first round of federal aid, talks about another round of stimulus checks have stalled, largely due to partisan haggling, even as Americans suffer. 

The Post noted Thursday that shoplifting has increased over the past year at higher levels than in past recessions and that it will likely get worse before it gets better, with benefits running out for 12 million Americans on Dec. 26. 

The Pew Research Center affirmed that food insecurity has risen significantly this year, and nonprofit food bank network Feeding America says more than 54 million Americans will struggle with hunger in 2020.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that if this year's poverty rate is 14%, more than 60 million people will be affected, including 17 million children.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, approximately 7 million Americans have enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assitance Program (SNAP), and demand has increased sharply at organizations that donate meals.

But, like SNAP, federal food programs are being reduced or expiring.

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This week, the U.S. recorded more than 3,000 deaths in a single day, a pandemic record. There are now more than 15.6 million cases in America, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.