Table 3. Thematic Assessment of Comments From Low-Income Households With Children (N = 1,048), Brighter Bites COVID-19 Survey, April 2020.

Themes	Description of Code	Quote
Fear of contracting COVID-19	Fear of contracting COVID-19 for family	My biggest worry is that my family gets infected. I worry that I get sick since I’m pregnant.
	Concerned about when COVID-19 will end	My worry is that this won’t end and we won’t be able to take care of our kids.
	Fear of COVID-19 spreading	I’m worried about people making each other sick since not everyone is practicing distancing and you don’t know who is sick because they haven’t checked everyone (like for example when you go to the supermarket and people aren’t wearing masks).
	Fear of children contracting COVID-19	My biggest worry is getting sick, or that my kids get sick, or ending up without food or money to pay the bills.
	Fear of going out (eg, stores) because of COVID-19	My biggest worry is going out and getting the coronavirus.
	Fear of grocery shopping because of COVID-19	A lot of fear about getting infected while going to the store early to buy food, and that my kids get sick.
	Fear of returning to normalcy after COVID-19	Going back to be in a store, park, schools and being with the family, without any worry of some infection.
	Fear of safety for family	We should stay home. I’m worried about my children’s safety.
	Lack of seriousness about COVID-19 among other people	A lot of people go to the supermarkets, Walmart, H.E.B, Fiesta, among others without masks, latex gloves and at the entrance of these establishments, nobody says anything to them, they also touch products and the carts without gloves and many parents take their kids to the supermarket.
	Taking necessary preventive measurements for family at home to avoid contracting COVID-19	Trying not to go out and follow the recommendation to stay at home and not expose kids to this virus.
	Concern about having to work with no personal protective equipment	I’m worried about my husband getting sick and spreading it to me and my kids because he’s still working and his job doesn’t provide protection.
	Fear because of COVID-19 of having to go into work	My biggest concern is about my husband who is working picking tomatoes and he says that a lot of the workers aren’t being as careful as they should about coronavirus and that the bosses don’t care about them. Because a lot of people already have the flu. And I’m scared that we’re all going to get sick.
Disruption of employment status	Lack of employment	What’s happening is really hard because there’s no work but being healthy is the important thing.
	Fear of being unemployed	My worry is that my husband can lose his job due to the pandemic that we’re going through.
	Working less hours due to COVID-19	That my husband has very little work.
	Lack of employment at a restaurant	My biggest worry is that this virus last for months since I work in a restaurant, and my savings are drying up day by day.
Financial hardship	Concern about not having enough money to pay bills/utilities	We’re just worried about how to pay the bills this month.
	Concern about not having enough money to pay rent	My biggest worry is not being able to pay next month’s rent and not knowing where to go.
	Lack of finances	I’m worried about my children’s food and about work. There are bills to pay and no money.
	Unable to meet kids’ needs	I’m worried about how to feed my kids because there’s no work right now.
	Fear of being homeless	That we don't have work and can’t pay the rent and bills, and that this ends up with my kids having no place to live.
	Fear of inability to take care of family	I am the only financial support for my family, so if anything happened to me, I don't know what would happen to my loved ones.
	Lack of necessities/supplies	That we don’t have masks, gloves, or disinfectant wipes because you can’t find them at the stores.
	Fear of not having necessities/ supplies	I’m worried that my kids won’t have food (fruits, vegetables, milk, and basic hygiene items) because there’s not enough opportunity for work.
	Economic instability	Economic instability, since unemployment comes from it.
	Financial instability	It’s stressful, and the financial uncertainty.
	Worry/fear of future financial challenges	My biggest worry is not having an income for my family and that our savings run out.
	Ineligible for government assistance	Food is running out for my children, I have no work, no money, I don’t even qualify for the check that Mr. Donald Trump is sending out.
	Reduced quality of life	We’re just worried about having a better standard of living than right now. I hope this is over fast. There’s no work, no money and bills don’t offer forgiveness. There’s no help with bills, and the food is very limited.
	Concern about increased prices of food in stores	That food is scarce, and when there is some the price is high, starting with our produce.
Exacerbated food insecurity	Concern about not having enough food for family and/or children	I’m worried about not having enough food for my kids.
	Lack of food for family and/or children	I don't have enough food for my kids.
	Need for produce	We need more fruits and vegetables.
	Immediate need for food	I feel worried because I’m not giving enough vegetables and fruit to my children since my husband only works 3 days, and I’m not working because my baby was just born, so there are 4 children and 2 adults and I’m short of food and diapers for my baby, but what I need is food for the family.
	Decreased amount of food	[T]he fact that they can’t eat enough fruit or food that they like.
	Fear of grocery shopping because of COVID-19	That I don’t want to go to the store and that I run out of food, scared to go out.
	Stores not having enough food for buyers	It’s been difficult to find fresh produce in the stores.
	Concern about increased prices of food in stores	That food is scarce, and when there is some the price is high, starting with our produce.
	Fear of stores closing and not being able to get food	That they close all the stores where you can find food.