this is "nightline." >> tonight, essential and exposed to covid-19, undocumented, uninsured and under pressure to keep america going, from keeping our roads safe to cleaning our homes. why latino workers are some of the most vulnerable, weighing risk of infection against the risk of losing it all. plus, the tik tok movement. the platform known for challenges like the blinding lights challenge now home to activism. >> we're sick of it. >> how young voices are calling for change in just 15 seconds. >> freedom isn't always free, but it will come to those who fight for it. and you know we'll fight for it!

"nightline" starts right now with byron pitts. >> good evening, thank you for joining us. tonight the disparity in cases of covid-19 in america. soaring among the hispanic population, working some of the most underappreciated and vital jo jobs in this country. here's rachel scott with her "nightline" debut. >> reporter: for years, this was the highlight of the day. returning home from work to his wife and children, cal a carrngith him theaily pride of his job as an essential worker in the construction industry until everything changed, and he brought home something terrible. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: first came the chills, then the loss of taste and smell. like many in his industry, he

says he contracted covid-19 in early june, but his fear was for his family and whether he'd given it to them and what that would mean for not just their health but their life. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: it is a unique and terrible situation many essential workers across the country deal with every day. those working quietly in the shadows, keeping our country running in the midst of a pandemic, while they are left exposed and vulnerable. why are minorities and communities of color more vulnerable? >> the health care disparities that whether you're a small city or you're a large city are ubiquitous. and that has to do with people who are in vulnerable positions

due to their low-wage jobs in which they don't have job security, they don't have trusted relationships with employers. there is the multi-generational household situation. >> reporter: so many are forced to weigh the fears of once again contracting the virus while providing for their families or stay home and cease to earn a living. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: now over four months into the pandemic, at least 40 states are noting a surge in hospitalizations. a clear picture is emerging of the hardest hit, nationwide, hispanics accounting for nearly a third of all coronavirus cases. >> whether we wen we were all s home, they continued to work every single day in

construction, in the service industry, in chicken processing plants, meat processing plants. in the fields across the country. >> reporter: in texas, two-thirds of construction workers are latino like him. he doesn't know if he got sick on the job, but he first felt the symptoms while at work. he came home and eventually passed it on to his wife, forcing the couple to keep distance from their own children. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: he got so sick with coronavirus he ended up in the hospital. the honduran native, undocumented and uninsured, feared his immigration status might impact his treatment. [ speaking in foreign language ]

>> reporter: he says he was sent home to recover and quarantine without sick pay. a hospital bill of $3500 would arrive days later. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: for him, no work truly means no pay. since he's undocumented, he's ineligible for a stimulus check or unemployment aid. when it comes to the construction industry, he says employers should care for their employees.

>> reporter: his story, just one of many, illustrating covid's disproportionate and growing grip on the latino community. in chattanooga, tennessee, where the latest census shows latinos making up 6% of the population, they now make up 40% of all positive cases. in one of the hardest-hit areas in the city, church parking lots have been turned into testing centers. >> from day one, when covid-19 came to chattanooga, we knew that the latinx population would be hit. because we knew that all of them or the majority of them were essential workers. >> reporter: stacy johnson is the executive director at chattanooga. >> we have had calls from the service industries, now that hotels and restaurants are starting to open back up. >> reporter: johnson says the city reopened too early and did

so without prioritizing the growing outbreak in the community. >> it wasn't part of the strategy, it wasn't part of the plan. >> reporter: johnson's group has been focussed on providing needed information on covid in spanish, something she says is lacking from city and state institutions. >> we feel like language is a huge barrier. we have a large guatemalan community. when you have guidelines that have been predominantly in english, what message does that send to a community about whose health as a nation we are prioritizing? >> it sends the message, "you're not really here", that we are placing priority over certain languages, certain ethnicities in my opinion. >> we opened five years ago for the underserved community. >> reporter: dr. arnold runs clinica medicos here.

many of the patients are uninsured and undocumented, meaning they won't get sick pay. when you are telling someone that they have tested positive for covid-19, the weight of that moment. >> the weight of that moment is incredible. am i going to be on a ventilator? am i going to die? we're undocumented. what's going to happen? all of these pondering are pal pably present in the lives of our patients, and we see it every day, and there's a divide in this country. so those who don't live in those situations, they look at, you know, to be positive would be really unfortunate, because i might get really ill, however, the chips around me probably aren't going to fall. >> reporter: betty delgado feels lucky. she was able to get sick pay after coming down with coronavirus. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: she cleans home for

a a chicken processing plant, her father retired and now baby sits his grandkids. all it took was one person to get sick to stop them all from working. she says it started with her father, eventually it caught up to her. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: all three have now recovered, but she says she is far from feeling safe. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: despite her fears, betty is back to work. a risk, yes. but not a choice. for another employee essential to her family and our country. >> our thanks to rachel. coming up, not old enough to vote, but already helping

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sometimes it takes just 15 seconds for a message to spread across the world. just ask the young users behind tik tok. now some of the digital, savvy creators are turning the fun into activism. here's "nightline's" ah shan sing. >> reporter: taylor cassidy is recording a tik tok. but this isn't one of those viral dances. she's recording her latest post. >> it was one of the first genres to show african-americans as a super hero. >> reporter: for her nearly 2 million followers, she's already got more than 38 million likes and the blue check mark, validation for the aspiring activist. >> hundreds of thousands of people have started coming to this little black girl's channel to support her. i still can't fully fathom it, but i'm so thankful.

>> reporter: tik tok. best known as a launch pad for chart-topping hits, eye popping stunts and endless dance crazes. >> don't let anyone on the app fool you. >> reporter: is now becoming a go-to space for activism. a preferred outlet for young people itching to voice their opinions and enact change. director of tik tok's creative community says that the app's new role is an organic progression. >> people have been opened up to be able to express their authentic voice and things that they also care about, not just having fun but inspiring people, educating people, informing people. >> reporter: hash tags about black lives matter wracking up more than 17 billion views. pride, 17 billion. >> it's a place where teenagers go to post information about how

to protest. where protests are happening, what's happening on the ground. tik tok is the real time news platform. >> reporter: she quickly recognize the potential as a mega phone for social issues. >>ly been doing motivational talks on instagram. when i was on tik tok i was like, i'm going to see what happens. people really loved it. >> there's a fire inside of you. no one can burn it out. >> in february is when black history month started and black history has always been deeply rooted in my heart, and this black history month just felt special, so i was like, i'm going to really do something to educate people. >> reporter: in a series, cassidy showed little known facts about black icons. this post, only here second one of the month, has more than 1 million views. >> i had found out a few months prior.

>> she captivated. >> woe've seen these viral vides that have opened up the country. did you find in this time that your voice needed to be heard? >> absolutely. there are a lot of tik tok users that use their platform to disenfranchise the black lives matter movement. an and i think it really proves how important this is that we provide authentic information opd real information so that people don't mistake the black lives matter movement as something that it's not. >> reporter: the platform is also a hotbed of political commentary, most notably, conservative ones. >> you guys wanting this guy to fail is wanting to crash the plane. >> there was a period of time when i posted normal tik toks.

didied to be funny. it didn't work out. i noticed i would start making trump-related videos, talking about what i agree with or disagree with, and they were r:ssively successful. >> reporter: cam higby fou eunder of this. not everything is suitable for children. >> you know what's so funny about the left? the lack of loyalty they have for each other. they love to eat their own. >> there's tons of right wing content that performs incredibly well. it's because people are constantly dunking on refuting their videos. i think they post a lot of videos that people feel are racist or people feel that they disagree with. >> reporter: higby says he wbraces backlash. >> i would like it if people who disagree saw our content, i want

to display my ideas so people will disagree and i can have conversations. >> reporter: ironically, president trump disagrees with cam's platform of choice. mike pompeo calling it a national security threat because it's a chinese-owned company. >> i will be upset if it's going to get banned, but i would also r:derstand why he's doing it. >> reporter: in a statement, tik tok says there's a lot of misinformation about tik tok out there. tik tok has an american ceo and a team that works diligently to develop a best-in-class security. it has strict controls on ese oyee access. these are the facts. both higby and cassidy find that tik tok is an important place to express ideologies. >> it's great that people on the right and left get involved in

politics when they're younger. >> reporter: you're 17. you can't even vote yet. >> if i can't vote, i can tfluence others to vote for the andidate that best suits their beliefs and what can really improve our society. ch you can vote, you can help epat change. >> reporter: while she waits for 2024 to roll around, for now she'll keep creating. that post about black-sploitation, she got millions of views. >> make sure that your heart is in the right place to make impact first. because that's how you're going howeach people. that's how you're going to make an impact. >> our thanks. and up next, remembering a civil rights giant. . a little dust? it never bothered me. until i found out what it actually was.

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and finally tonight, honoring the legacy of a civil rights

minister ct vivy practiced what he preached. seen here in 1965 in selma, alabama, putting his body on the line, fighting for the right to vote. vivian passing away on friday. today his casket lying in state in the georgia capital, a horse-drawn carriage later transporting him to the crypt of martin luther king, junior. he was 95. he was a courageous man. that's "nightline" for this evening. see you right back here tomorrow, seam time. thanks for the company, america, goodnight. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live," with guest host, george lopez, tonight, country legend willie nelson, and now, george lopez. >> hello and welcome to "jimmy kimmel live." i am george lope mmd guest ht. once again, mexicans doing jobs that white people don't want.

i'm here tonight because i have literally nothing else to do. this is honestly just a way for me to kill time between my zoom yoga classes. and it's nice for a mexican to be invited to a mansion in hollywood and not have to trim the hedges. you know what i did actually? i hired the whitest guy on taskrabbit to come clean this house. "yo, don't forget to dust the fan blades, chad. i'll have you deported like that back to norway. i used to host a late night show myself called "lopez tonight." it's been a few years, but they say hosting late night is like riding a bike. we do it because we've had too many duis. we're going to have a lot of fun here tonight. well, i know i'm going to have a lot of fun. for all i know you saw my hair and changed the channel 10 seconds ago. this hair is something new for me. i decided 59 was the perfect age to start looking like a west hollywood brunch waiter. i went to my barber and said i want to look like a cross between danny trejo and justin bieber. brown skin and blond hair. th i