In response, school administrators and nutrition groups are pressuring the federal government to expand eligibility so that more children can receive meals in case of extended closings. The recommended quarantine period is at least 14 days from exposure but affected areas could be closed for longer if the public health emergency persists. That could lead to a hodgepodge of ways that school districts try to distribute meals.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday afternoon addressed the School Nutrition Association's legislative conference, where attendees and speakers were debating how their members will serve schools amid the outbreaks.

“If schools are closed, we are going to the very best we can with the tools we have to get those kids fed,” Perdue told the crowd.

But Perdue said the department’s hands are tied by law when it comes to determining which areas are eligible for exceptions during closings.

“We’re going to be as flexible as we absolutely can with the regulations that food and nutrition services have,” he said. “It’s not because we don’t want to, it’s because those statutes don’t allow that discretion from USDA.”

If there is an outbreak of the coronavirus in a community, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended schools avoid handing out food in crowded settings and consider “grab-and-go” bagged lunches or meal delivery.

FitzSimons suggested that USDA consider issuing broad waivers from school meal requirements to allow students to pick up multiple meals at a time. But she pointed out that having students travel daily to receive food presents hardships, and doesn't track with recommendations from public health officials that people distance themselves from social situations.

“It's a local decision,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC told senators of closing schools last week while pointing to recently issued CDC interim guidance for local schools and child care facilities.

“The general principle is to minimize disruption,” she said. “You have this balance between the earlier you act, the more impact it can have in slowing the spread — and the enormous disruption we see with school closures.”

So far, closings have been scattered in small clusters across the country. In Chicago, authorities closed a high school for roughly 200 special needs students through this week after a classroom assistant who vacationed aboard the stricken Grand Princess cruise ship returned a presumptive positive test for Covid-19.

Those who visited the school since Feb. 25 are being told to not leave their homes through March 18, but Chicago Public Schools says it is an isolated incident that presents low immediate risks to the broader school system.

Schools in California and Washington have faced broader disruption.

California’s Elk Grove Unified School District, which has nearly 64,000 students in Sacramento County, announced Monday that classes will be canceled through Friday. It is the largest closure of schools in the nation due to coronavirus thus far.

Northshore School District near Seattle opted to hold online courses for its 23,000 students during its shutdown period, allowing the district to stick with its current meal program. Students can place orders online for meals to be picked up the next day at one of 22 locations.

In New York, any school where a student tests positive for the coronavirus will shut down for a minimum of 24 hours to allow for cleaning the school facilities, investigation of the individual case and determination whether an extended closing is necessary. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that the city will find other ways to get meals to students who need them in event of shutdowns. But he said the city is trying to avoid closures and sees it as a last resort.

Madina Toure and Juan Perez Jr. contributed to this report.