Table 2.

Qualitative findings

Themes	Sub-themes		Quotes
Knowledge	Knowledge of…	Knowledge about COVID	“It is a very serious viral disease. Easily contacting or contracted, spread through maybe some droplets emanating from the mouth or maybe the nose. If you get it on your hand, you can spread it to other people through contact, and maybe on yourself from your hands onto your nose, lips and eyes. That’s what I know. It can be dangerous, and it can be fatal”
		Knowledge alleviates fear about testing	“I have…heard on the news that right now…if you get seriously ill, don’t be afraid to go to the hospital because right now the police will not be asking if you are legal or if you have papers because some people are very sick and out of fear they don't go to the doctor. I keep hearing that you shouldn’t be afraid and that you should go to the doctor, that they shouldn’t be afraid if they are legal or non-legal…I realized that they do the test without asking any status or something like a legal document…now I can share that information with the rest of the community [so] that they can go get tested without any issues”
	Lack of knowledge…		“I wish more information would be available to my Spanish speaking families. Everything being handed out is in English and there is a disconnect with what our families are going through….I go to grocery stores or…even at [a] place of work and…I see people walking in with the kids, no masks on stuff like that [and] you know some of them…don’t speak the language [and/or] they [are] probably like “Should I do it? Should I not?”…I think it’s the language…sadly I read on social media that cases for Hispanics…there [are] more of them than there is other races, and sometimes those are the places here”
Prevention	Facilitators to prevention	Individual social responsibility	“It is so they won’t spread the illness to other people or so they don’t bring the illness to the church [and] especially the community has many families and many kids. It is what I think this means to take care of others not just ourselves, for them and me and…especially the elderly”
		Community-based PPE	“To prevent COVID we hardly go out on the street, we do not take the children to stores, to public places where there are many people. If we do take them, they wear masks and we try not to be too close together.”
		Employer-based PPE	“They disinfect, they try, and everyone brings their own tools. They try to not use each other’s tools. They gave [PPE] to him. He has it there at work”
	Barriers to prevention	Employer-based PPE	“Yes, he [her husband] needed it. He had to buy it, buy the gloves, mask [for himself]. He had to buy all of that”
		Barriers to social distancing	“And then people will say, “well just take the bus,” ok well what if they have five kids? Do they put all of the five kids on this public bus, that is you know 12 people sat in that chair within the hour?”
Work	Job insecurity	Going to work sick due to fear of losing job	“Because many get sick…They prefer silence,…because they know the company …makes you go get tested so you can bring the results and fill out the forms and all of that so you can rest. Well, if they lay you off, who is going to pay your bills? No one is going to pay you for 14, 10, 15 days, no one is going to pay…”
	Job security	Sick leave	“My husband was giving sick leave. My brother lost his job…”
Challenges	Economic challenges	Job and immigration insecurity	“Many people when they feel sick of a headache or fever…you tell the company “I can’t go to work because I have a fever,”…the company forces you to get a test and because many people are illegal, undocumented they don’t go to get tested…They prefer silence, to not say anything because they know the company asks for a test and makes you go get tested so you can bring the results and fill out the forms…Well, if they lay you off, who is going to pay your bills? No one is going to pay [and] that is why many people knowing the company asks for a bunch of papers prefer to not say anything.”…A lot of the undocumented men…have been going to work because they need to work. If they lose this job it will be too hard to get another…a lot of times they went to work despite having…symptoms [and] these ended up being hotspots for COVID cases”
		Job and housing insecurity	“the concern of the entire Hispanic community is losing our job. In fact, as far as I know, several people lost their jobs, such as in restaurants, in hotels, and thank God I have mine, but I believe that losing a job and not being able to pay rent is more of a concern for the community”
		Job and food insecurity	“The day when I don’t… have a job I would worry about not having food”
		Immigration fear, insecurity, or uncertainty	“[Regarding barriers to accessing care] more than anything is the documentation, we are not legal…It is a fear because now that I went to the clinic … at the clinic they did a test and they did not ask me documentation, simply my identification from Guatemala so it is a fear that we have, but I went for a cough, not for a test but I realized that they do the test without asking any status or something like a legal document. So now I can share that information with the rest of the community that they can go get tested without any issues”
	Family challenges	Switch to virtual	“Some of the technology is way beyond some of our parents because they’ve never been beyond or engrossed in it, or trained in it [and] a lot of them don’t have [it.] There’s a digital inequity. They don’t have the internet, and if they do they have it for their phone [they] don’t have the data plan that would allow their children to be on it for the whole day”
		Childcare or school stress	“Here at home they do not learn the same, that also worries me that being at home they do not learn the same as they are at the school being there with their teachers learning …The problem is that we Latinos have children. It is harder here to hire a baby-sitter and who will we leave our little one with? More than anything…My son, leaving him alone. I don’t know how he will react”
		Marital stressors	“One thing that came up recently was spousal abuse. [There] aren’t that many places where they can go, the females can go, for shelter…in the Latino culture… the man working is very important…provide for his family…. that tends to have consequences for the home environment…excessive drinking, short-tempered, verbal abuse …and eventually then physical blows against children and the spouse”
Treatment	Barriers to care	Distrust of health providers	“[Latinx] don’t want to go to the doctor. I [know a] few people [that say] ‘well you go to the doctor, they will, they will hurt [you.’ They] believe…conspiracy theories, that you will see a doctor [and] they will inject you [with] the virus…I think that a lot of it is the skepticism behind [seeing health professionals], the [belief] that God is going to keep you safe…and that Vicks VapoRub fixes everything [and] eating healthier will fix everything”
		No PCP	“I know I am a patient, because my primary doctor speaks Spanish, but my husband doesn’t have anyone else, and my husband doesn’t have insurance and I believe he has been exposed”
		Alternative treatment	“In myself, when [I got covid] … When I started, I was very cold and later I was a little hot, body aches, headaches, and a lot of chills. That was when I started. Later at night I made a home remedy, I do not know if you have heard of any home remedies, home remedy is a tea that we prepare here at home”
	Facilitators to care	Family support	“I got my parents…a couple of sisters…a brother [and] friends [close by] that…help…to…go out and get stuff…if we were to go through [quarantine] we would get help…we have [also] helped when [other] people [in the community] get sick. Sometimes we have delivered fruit [and] leave it by the door and we call them to let them know [we have delivered fruit]. That is what we have done. Helping them by giving them food. Also, the community has offered to pay rent and bills if [needed.] If [everyone gets] sick, if all [of] the family is sick…they stay in quarantine and we offer to bring lunch and leave it at the door”
		Community or agency support	“I have the help and support of [a trusted community advocate] who [told me to] ‘go take the test, go do the test’ and if he did not pressure me, I wouldn’t have gone, but he pressured me to do so. [These advocates] have been a very important part of my life, they have helped me to get by with so many problems, mostly emotional, they are my psychologists…I want to thank all the organizations that are with us as a workers’ center…and all the people who are helping us by informing us about the disease with your time because we know that you are taking your time to help the community”
		Church support	“The only other contact I have if things got bad would be to let my church know. We have a very strong support system at the church and I would let them know so if we needed to have someone bring food and other things they would be prepared to do that”