Social Security Offices Have Been Closed for Much of the Pandemic, Wounding Some of the Neediest Americans
From the Washington Post: “Even as courthouses, motor vehicle and veterans’ benefits offices, and most other parts of the government that directly serve the public have reopened 21 months into the coronavirus crisis, the Social Security Administration remains mostly closed to in-person service, its workers at home, denying vital assistance to most of the poor, elderly and people with disabilities who have long relied on their local office to navigate one of the government’s most complex benefits systems. The unintended consequence: The federal government’s lengthy effort to protect the health of its workers and the public has instead wounded many of those in greatest need of its services.”