Examining the Area Agencies on Aging nutrition program in response to the COVID-19

Background & aims. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) became an essential source for older adults to maintain a healthy life after social isolation. It has developed different programs in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, such as home delivered meals to support older adults’ nutrition supply. The purpose of this study was to examine how well AAA has managed such important nutrition plans facing the COVID-19 changes. Methods. We integrated three databases, including 49 weeks (6 April 2020-14 March 2021) 33 Planning and Service Area (PSA) meal data, PSAs’ key characteristics from the California Department of Aging, and the COVID-19 cases from the California Department of Public Health. We examined the association between the number of meals and people served and the COVID-19 cases and PSA features, using the univariate analysis and the random effect model. Results. We observed a positive relationship between the number of meals served and the number of the COVID-19 cases, however, not the number of people served. We found a negative relationship between the number of rural older adults with both the number of meals served and people served. Additionally, non-English-speaking and minority played a positive and negative role respectively as to the number of meals served. Conclusions. These results indicated that the AAA should cover a wider population, especially in rural areas experiencing a shortage of volunteers in the pandemic, urging the collaboration with high-tech and third-party companies to improve delivery efficiency. © 2022, Pacini Editore S.p.A./AU-CNS. All rights reserved.