Table 2 Variable Description

State

A categorical variable indicating the pandemic severity of the state from which a participant comes. Four levels are classified as mild, moderate daily increase (the states that have moderate daily new cases), large daily increase (the states that have large daily new cases), and serious.

Age

Age of a participant, ranging from 18 to 88.

Male

The gender indicator. 1: male; 0: female.

Rhispanic

The indicator of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. 1: yes; 2: no.

Race

A categorical variable with four levels. 1: White; 2: Black; 3: Asian; 4: others.

Educ

The highest degree of education completed. 1: less than high school; 2: high school; 3: Bachelor’s degree; 4: graduate degree.

MS

A categorical variable with 5 levels indicating marital status. 1: now married; 2: widowed; 3: divorced; 4: separated; 5: never married.

Numper

The total number of household members including adults and children.

Numkid

The total number of household members under 18 years.

Income

A categorical variable of the total household income in 2019 before taxes. 1: Less than $25,000; 2: $25,000 - $34,999; 3: $35,000 - $49,999; 4: $50,000 - $74,999; 5: $75,000 - $99,999; 6: $100,000 - $149,999; 7: $150,000 - $199,999; 8: $200,000 and above.

Wrkloss

An indicator variable indicating if anyone in the household experienced a loss of employment income since March 13, 2020, or the participants expect anyone in the household will experience a loss of employment income in the next 4 weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. 1: yes; 2: no.

Anywork

An indicator variable indicating if the participant did any work for either pay or profit in the last 7 days. 1: yes; 2: no.

Kindwork

A categorical variable indicating the kind of work for the participant. 1: government; 2: private company; 3: non-profit organization including tax and charitable organizations; 4: self-employed; 5: working in a family business.

Emppay

An indicator variable indicating if the participant receives payment for the time not working. 1: yes; 2: no.

Foodcon.change

An indicator variable indicating how the food eaten status changes from before March 13, 2020 till now. 1: the food status is better or keeps the same; 0: the food status becomes worse.

Freefood

An indicator variable indicating if the participant or anyone in the household gets free groceries or a free meal during the last 7 days.

Tspndfood

A continuous variable showing the amount of money the household spends on food at supermarkets, grocery stores, online, etc., to buy food to prepare and eat at home.

Tspndprpd

A continuous variable showing the amount of money the household spends on prepared meals, including eating out, fast food, etc.

Foodconf

An ordinal variable with four levels indicating the confidence level that the household is able to afford the kind of food needed for the next four weeks. 1: not at all confident; 2: somewhat confident; 3: moderately confident; 4: very confident.

Hlthstatus

An ordinal variable indicating the health status: 1: excellent; 2: very good; 3: good; 4: fair; 5: poor.

Healins

An indicator variable indicating if the participant is currently covered by any type of health insurance or health coverage plan. 1: yes; 2: no.

Med.delay.notget

An indicator variable indicating if the medical care is delayed or not having medical care. 1: yes; 2: no.

Mort.prob

An indicator variable indicating if there is any problem on rental or mortgage, including last month’s rent or mortgage is not paid on time, or the participant does not have enough confidence in the ability to pay the next month rent or mortgage on time. 1: yes; 2: no.

Schoolenroll

An indicator variable indicating if there is any child in the household enrolled in the school. 1: yes; 2: no.

Ttch_Hrs

A continuous variable recording the hours that the household members spend on all teaching activities with children during the last 7 days.

Mental health

A binary variable with 1 indicating having mental health problem and 0 otherwise.