American currency, hundred dollars, fifty dollars, twenty dollars, ten dollars, one dollar and some change photographed on Monday, March 8, 2021 in Pittsburg,Calif. Currency, banks, retail services. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay City News)

CalFresh emergency allotments due to COVID-19 will be expiring at the end of February, and Napa County is concerned that this may affect nearly 5,000 households who may see “significant” reduction in their benefits, county officials said on Friday.

CalFresh, formerly known as Food Stamps, is a benefit provided to lower-income households that may need help paying for food.

During the pandemic, households that received CalFresh were given temporary emergency allotments of an extra $95, according to the county.

Final allotments from the emergency program will start going out in March and end in April, affecting 4,892 households in Napa County. People who receive CalFresh will still get their normal allotment, just not the additional emergency amount.

These regular allotments will remain for households as long as they remain eligible, county officials said, and are based on household size, income and deductions.

To apply for CalFresh go to www.benefitscal.org or call (707) 253-4511.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.