Table 4.
Open Responses to “Is There Anything Else You Would Like Us to Know About How You Are Dealing with the Coronavirus, and How It Is Affecting Your Life?”
| Feeling scared, anxious, stressed or depressed |
| “Anxiety seems to be increasing amongst my community. I think fear of the unknown.”—Adult with HFS |
| “Being cooped up and quarantined in my home is making me feel more anxious than doing good.”—Adult with MFS |
| “I have lived week by week, just barely, to avoid asking for help. Now I am falling through the cracks, invisible to a system suddenly flooded by the needs of people it already recognizes as needing help. I am in danger of losing my home and everything in it. I am very scared.”—Adult with LFS |
| “I find this time so stressful and scary.”—Adult with LFS |
| “I am depressed and scared.”—Adult with LFS |
| Exacerbation of pre-existing mental health conditions |
| “As a Veteran with anxiety disorder and PTSD is have been stressed more than usual with limited exercise and socialization activities.”—Adult with HFS |
| “I have anxiety disorders, so this is worse on me. Every sniffle or runny nose which I usually think are my allergies or sinusitis … I now think is a death sentence. I am a nervous wreck anytime I have to go anywhere.”—Adult with MFS |
| “I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I suffer from depression and anxiety and those have gotten worse.”—Adult with LFS |
| “I have PTSD. I wake up in a terror every day.”—Adult with VLFS |
| “Thinking about suicide more often.”—Adult with VLFS |
| Worries about ability of afford or access essential supplies and services |
| “I am more worried about my daughters job being cut. Since we share the rent and bills including buying groceries, we're not sure we can make it.”—Adult with LFS |
| “If things don't get back to normal soon I am afraid we will have a very hard time making ends meet due to lack of work for my husband. We are praying for this crisis to end and soon!!!”—Adult with VLFS |
| “I have COPD and have to go to the store and am concerned and have no water left for drinking and no money or means to get it or any food.”—Adult with VLFS |
| “The stress of how to survive if our state shuts down has been more stressful. We are looking at having to move in the middle of all this because we can no longer afford rent. It has become unnecessarily stressful. We need reassurance that we can take care of our health and we will still be able to take care of our bills.”—Adult with VLFS |
| “I'm low income so even missing one day could make me and my family go hungry for a week so we are suffering because other people got sick even though we are healthy.”—Adult with VLFS |
| Worries about health due to age and/or underlying health conditions |
| “I have an autoimmune disorder and am worried about what would happen if I catch COVID-19.”—Adult with HFS |
| “I'm terrified of catching it, as it could easily kill me or my family with our medical problems. We have to use napkins that we take from work to wipe with, or roll some toilet paper on our own roll from other businesses to bring home. Without getting enough hours we will be behind on rent. If my boyfriend gets sick, he had no insurance and we don't know if he'd be able to get help since he's the one who works full time. We are all concerned and scared.”—Adult with LFS |
| “This is a scary time, especially for us older folks.”—Adult with VLFS |
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HFS, high food security; LFS, low food security; MFS, marginal food security; PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder; VLFS, very low food security.