Table 2.

Golden quotes from in depth interviews with key informants from Los Angeles and New York City

Theme	New York City	Los Angeles
Types of employment of population served by the Mexican consulates	The problem with our population is that the industries of construction, restaurant, deliveries and the jobs of the Mexicans here, did not suspend and worked when the contagion was at the highest. They really were the ones who kept the City going	Here the majority of the population works in services; supermarkets, transport, and everything that has to do with the food chain. In other counties, like Ventura, 95% work on farms because it is a very rural area; we are definitely in the essential sectors
Exposure associated with essential workers	The risk they were exposed to was when they were working at the supermarkets or delivering food without the adequate protection, even feeling sick, they didn’t stop working because they couldn’t. The fact that they are more exposed is linked with the economic needs and misinformation, the language barrier, they don’t know how to keep protecting themselves, and believing that taking one Aspirin will keep fever away	Unfortunately, our community can’t give the luxury to stop working. The sick and diagnosed person has to do it, but with the risk of losing his job. Many have informal employment and reactions are diverse. They are those who keep working with their relatives sick in the next bed and also the proper sick person who can’t have the privilege to isolate himself
Access to health services	The emergency was paid to people with COVID, but many of them thought they had to pay and didn’t seek care. We explained that emergency Medicaid would be activated. To all the people with COVID who entered at hospitals we applied the emergency Medicaid and the state of NY and Trump care paid for it. The problem now is that COVID health consequences aren’t being paid	Here the option is My Health LA, and in case that you’re not eligible, there’s the community clinic, the cost of healthcare is really low and they provide basic healthcare services. Specifically, for COVID, the test is free for people without health insurance. For intensive hospitalizations they use emergency MediCal, which has financial consequences for the family
Distrust in health system	They think they have no rights, they believe access to healthcare can mark their immigration status. The pandemic was so big that you needed to survive, to eat. People had to go to the hospital or they would die. It was really important to highlight that going for food didn’t breach a health burden. The fear existed but the need was bigger	Many times, people are afraid even to receive a service; if they have to fill out forms, they ask us “where is this going?” and we tell them that their information is completely private, but there is always the fear about who has access to it, and that it may be a deportation cause
Fear of generating “public charge”	Yes, there were special programs and financial aid; the restaurants and rental costs were important. The problem is that they don’t ask for this back up for fear that it could generate future problems. We announced the NY students’ card and the questions were about public charge or the consequences of taking it	The fear is much greater with the pandemic because they know that there will be unaffordable medical costs. And they fear they’re gonna be a public charge. Even though the person could only become a public charge with specific medical coverage and certain programs for which they are not eligible due to their immigration status, the fear is always there
VDS as a key source of trusted information	We went from face-to-face to a permanent telephone service, a 24/7 number was set up for any health issue. Then the COVID resource guide for the community was made; they were receiving information in Spanish verified by people from the consulate, in which they could see where to find food and the different measures to take. They were also helped to find funeral homes, when they reached the limit and were no longer serving. We use Facebook a lot; now we do seminars and online talks to improve health. The challenge comes to re-explain how to access services, explain navigation in the health system and that they do have access, and integrate telemedicine	We replaced normal activities with more presence on social media, educating the community about different programs to keep them afloat during the pandemic. We focus on COVID-19 symptoms, where to go, where to get tested, and everything related to that topic. People could contact the consulate with very specific questions. They had endless needs that showed up, we helped by giving information about county programs; how to access health coverage, how to find out where the nearest food bank was, how to apply for unemployment insurance, etc. Now we are doing other kind of workshops, such as nutrition, how effective telemedicine is and much more
Emergency support from VDS	The mobile service window is doing COVID tests and influenza vaccination days. They keep with pantry deliveries, they were the first. The pantries, the food, were the basic needs. And we partner to have tests on community centers or churches. Many of the VDS partners stayed on and gave us the details to work online or by phone. What we did was have clinicians, two doctors and two nurses, who spoke to people to see their health problem and then made the corresponding referral, to a primary health service in person or with allies that we know, whether to receive medical service or for COVID	A COVID test center opened at the consulate with a capacity for 1400 tests by week; people considered it a safe space, they know they can come without appointment, because it’s an obstacle that people don’t know how to schedule one, not even online and other processes aren’t user-friendly. We also start doing influenza vaccination days. And we have been distributing COVID-19 protective equipment to peddlers in the area for two weeks. Besides, we do medical advisory services through appointments
Mental health needs and support	We interviewed people with the VDS system about their emotional status, and we basically found anxiety, stress, fear, sadness and depression. And the part of domestic violence, which the city has detached a lot. Access to mental health in your language has been a very important challenge, in addition to breaking the myth that exists “I'm not bad, I don’t need to.” The line to make referrals in health services was opened and calls to relatives of the deceased were increased to provide emotional support directly; it was a volunteer program. It wasn’t exactly a line of support; we put them in contact with a shrink who can follow up with them. The major advantage is that it was direct, in Spanish, and delivered by culturally appropriate staff	We began to have virtual workshops about the impact of the pandemic on the emotional well-being of the community, which consisted of giving them tools to get through those difficult times that they had to be at home with their children, often without work. Then we went with other closely related issues that we knew were going to increase, such as loss and grief, family violence, suicide prevention, alcohol, and substance use. And about stigma because in the community there was a lot of stigma around mental health. The LA County Department of Mental Health has lines in Spanish and English that, right now, due to the pandemic, were activated 24/7 days a week; not just for crisis cases, but for people who are experiencing anxiety or stress, or who just want to talk
Maps’ validation	Where Mexicans live it seems to me a good sample. Where the circles are, there is a larger Mexican population. And yes, it really is how we are distributed, they are well located, which is the south of the Bronx, Corona, Queens, Sunset Park, Staten island, which are the areas where the community is and where there were more cases. Staten Island is the zone, not by quantity but by presence. I think there could be more population there, the Port Richmond area. It was a very good sample, it does coincide, also was where the strongest outbreaks were seen	All of Los Angeles County is full of Mexicans, but I believe that most of them are concentrated in the southern area and I think that it is very well represented with what you show us. It reveals the situation we are discussing. It's most likely the central and south-southeast area of Los Angeles, the cities where we have the largest Hispanic population, also where there are more productive plants. In that area are the cities of Commerce, Industry, Huntington Park, in all those cities there is a lot of Mexican population and there are also many food manufacturing companies, a large part of the companies has plants there, so it makes sense to us what you are saying

VDS Ventanillas de Salud (Health Windows)