this is "nightline." >> tonight, scrambling to survive the pandemic. >> i have to file for bankruptcy because i hadilies struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. >> you know what a pantry is? >> uh-uh. >> a pantry is a special place where people who need food kilogram get food for free. >> when the newest round of government relief can't come soon enough. >> thank you. plus, class pass? should teachers move to the front of the vaccine line? lesson number one, how to safely reopen schools without risking lives. >> nobody should have to die for their job. teachers need support and protection. and yardi gr insoal distanced insoal distanced fun this year.pptohe nt level?

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every place across the country. ♪ >> good job, that was the whole song! when the pandemic first hit, i had to rearrange this room. i had to basically become a day care center. >> reporter: it was an unexpected twist for this first-year immigration lawyer. a single mom in the middle of a divorce. who lost her job last march when the courts shut down. we first met lisinee in the fall, struggling to stay afloat when the first round of covid payments of $600 a week ran out, coming after her unemployment benefits ran out because of a system error. >> it has been emotionally devastating, physically overwhelming, i'm stressed out.t funds before i get evicted. am i going to find a job in time

before everything else becomes a bigger mess? cans lost their e than 22 ri jobs due to covid-19. many of them like her, middle-class earners, people who once thought they were beyond the reach of poverty, now struggling. >> if this is my life and i'm a lawyer, i have an education, you know, i'm smart, i know where to look for resources, and i'm struggling. i went from, you know, up the ladder, i'm getting there, i'm almost there. and all of a sudden this happens. and that's it,ney, i have to file for bankruptcy because i had no other choice. >> reporter: one of president biden's t priorities welcome assistance for americans financially strained. just days in office, he's pushing for a new covid relief package. around one-quarter of the $1.9 trillion price tag includes the one-time stimulus checks of $1,400 for those eligible with bonuses for those with children. a family with two parents and

three kids could receive up to $4,600, less with higher earners. if approved by congress it could become the nation's third round of payments since the pandemic began. voting on the new stimulus isn't likely to take place until march. john yarmouth is the chairman of the house budget committee. congressman, as you know, $900 billion was just passed. a lot of that was directed at struggling families. so why would you say just a month later we need another round of stimulus checks? >> this plan at $1.9 trillion is something that the american people desperately need. we're having almost 1 million people file for new unemployment claims every week. the need is urgent and it's very large. >> reporter: michael strain is an economist with the american enterprise institute. >> it does not make sense to give direct checks to households who have a comfortable six-figure income and who haven't experienced employment loss. >> reporter: sharon parrot is the president of the center on budget and policy priorities. >> millions of people are out of

work. we have millions of households struggling to put food on the table and pay their rent. >> reporter: lisenee lives in this two-bedroom apartment in new jersey with 4-year-old son ethan. >> now we're going to do letters. >> reporter: juggling school, pa when she's lucky, a few hours of legal work, running her own one-woman law firm from her bedroom, all while looking for a full-time job. >> when the attorney gets on the call, you have to be quiet, right? you promise? excuse me, ethan. >> reporter: food, once abundant in this home, now at times out of reach. >> most of the stuff in my fridge has been given to us by either my mom or my best friend. you know, even the little yogurts she gave to us. we do buy some of it. when we have money. but it doesn't come in all the time. and i did apply for s.n.a.p. i've been approved but i have to wait for the, d that can take weeks. that's why i want to go to the pantry today. >> reporter: formerly

known as food stamps, isn't new to this family. but the pantry is. >> i've never gobeen to a pantr before to get food, only to donate. you know what a pantry is? a pantry is a special place where people who need food can go get food for free. >> why? >> why? not everybody has money for food, baby. sometimes mama doesn't have money for food. >> reporter: according to feeding america, 40% of people turning to food banks have never relied on them before. they estimate food insecurity could grow up to 50 million people, of the 330 million who live in this country. >> okay, thank you. you look at the ppl line, and it's like, color, career, humbling, really, you know. to know that that could be me. and today it is me. yesterday it wasn't, and hopefully tomorrow it won't be again. but today, that's me. i'm one of them.

>> reporter: though st. james has been handing out food for close to two hours, people are still in vesta godwin clark runs social services in downtown newark, new jersey. private charity relies on donations and grants and only has 11 employees. >> in the first three months of the pandemic, we served over 30,000 people. our numbers have quadrupled since the pandemic. >> thank you. thank you so much. >> reporter: lisenee thinks by rationing their food, it will last them two weeks. >> look at all this spinach! you're going to get so eme, wow, some milk here. it's great. >> lord god, we continue to lift

the city up. when the world shut down in march, my staff had not been paid. the people we serve, they're in a position far worse than we are. >> reporter: st. james is a full-service stopgap for many people who would otherwise fall through the cracks. offering assistance with everything from groceries and hot meals to free clothing. even helping people to pay their rent. >> we're getting over 30 calls a day of people who are seven, eight months behind in their rent. >> reporter: darlene anderson volunteers at st. james, despite working two jobs. >> i love it. it'sthen ymebody, you hand somey a bag, and they say thank you -- words can't explain that. >> reporter: during normal times, st. james caters mostly to the elderly, low-income families, the working poor, and

the homeless. >> you'd be surprised who comes here. our clientele has shifted. with the pandemic we saw people who were middle class and upper middle class. who have lost their jobs. those who are here, we know they truly have a need. and no one gets turned away. >> reporter: kevin woodley is one of those who's new to the pantry. >> working on wall street. you can imagine when businesses down, all our revenue went down. >> reporter: he's worked in finance for 30 years. >> i'm a six-figure earner, i have been for the last 15 years. ll, year i'm below $20,000 earned income. so you can imagine, with all the bills that i have, cars, house, family, that this is a shock to my system. >> reporter: he comes by every four weeks, the minimum anyone can return, to collect just enough food to keep his family

of four going. >> a well-designed, multifaceted stimulus package can make an enormous difference in the lives of people struggling and for the economy as a whole. >> come on in. i got an eviction notice. and i got my electric bill shut-off notice. so -- yeah. i'm hopeful, i'm positive. but it doesn't stop me from, like, suffering in the meantime. and wishing that none of this stuff was happening. and, like, reliving moments in my mind, wondering, like, what i could have done to, like, alleviate some of the consequences today. but i know that i've done what i could have. >> reporter: in less than a year, her credit score has plummeted from 680 to 450. four months after being approved for s.n.a.p., she's still

waiting to receive the card. >> checking my mail is horrifying for me. the letter from unemployment telling me that my issue's resolved isn't here, y s.n.a.p. card isn't here, or my approval for health insurance isn't here, or the email inviting me for an interview isn't here. but the bills keep coming. so it's a lot. >> reporter: after months of struggling, lisenee achieves a hint of stability when st. james saves her from eviction by saying six months of her back rent. and then a game changer. >> first day of work. in ten months. >> reporter: a chance to reset. >> i'm nervous. i'm excited. i'm hopeful. >> reporter: starting a new full-time job that's so personal, she's a lawyer helping people fight evictions. >> all of this has taught me that i have to have faith. i have to continue to do the work and ask for help.

and anyone out there still struggling, i hope they take comfort in my story and know e books.does get better. ttl reopening school. should teachers be prioritized to get the vaccine? sh or weighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at its best. taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slow sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil. support your daily digestive health. take the metamucil two week challenge and feel lighter and more energetic. sign up today at metamucil.com. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

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♪ now to the lessons being learned across the country that are dividing parents and teachers. can schools safely reopen without vaccines? for those on the front lines in classrooms, how will they be

broked from protected from an invisible intruder? getting the potentially life-saving shot to teachers has become a hot-button issu >> if quicker, it's a great move. >> we have an ethical quandary on our hands in that teachers are being put in front on the vaccine, but we don't have dates and we don't have a plan. >> reporter: in the california community of los gatos in the heart of silicon valley, controversy after a good samaritan offered teachers the opportunity to get vaccinated ahead of their scheduled group. >> we became aware of an email basically saying there was a special deal for vaccination. there were a lot of factors that were concerning to us. >> reporter: this email from district superintendent paul johnson obtained by the mercury news informed the staff the hospital had invited them to sign up as health care workers through a link they provided.

the lows gatos superintendent telling abc news, my job as superintendent is to ensure safety of all students and staff. this is more urgent as we approach our target for school reopening within the next week. that's why we were so grateful when good samaritan hospital reached out to us with this opportunity. the county health department has temporarily cut off the hospital from receiving any more vaccine doses. good samaritan has said it regrets the error and an invest. los gatos is just one of thousands of communities feeling the pressure to reopen schools. the biden administration has made it clear getting children back into the classrooms is a top priority. >> we should make school classrooms safe and secure. >> reporter: but with limited vaccine doses available, it's up to each state to decide who gets priority. >> we have been advocating for quite a long time that not just teachers but all of the educators in our school buildings that are surrounding our students get prioritized for

vaccination, and we know that our parents want nothing more than their students to return to in-person learning. that's what educators all over this country want, too. they want to be with their students. >> reporter: in chicago, the teachers union is threatening to strike, demanding vaccinations for all teachers. today thousands of students were told to stay home. >> i cannot as mayor in good conscience, as a mayor, as a mother, and a proud resident of this city, leave these students behind, who are failing, failing, when a safe solution is absolutely possible. >> reporter: in cobb county, georgia, outside of atlanta, where masks are required in schools, three teachers have died from covid, including 53-year-old patrick keye. >> nobody deserves to die for their job. teachers need support and protection. they need to be listened to and they need to be helped. >> reporter: keye's dying wish, for people to buy and wear a

mask, to protect others and yourself. so is safe in-school teaching possible? earlier i spoke to abc news contributor dr. john brownstein. thank you so much for joining us tonight. there is encouraging news from the cdc today. the transmission rate of covid-19 in schools is low as long as safety precautions are taken. do you think all schools should reopen for in-person learning soon? >> it's really about being able to reopen safely, masking, social distancing, good ventilation, and overall protocols. what we found is schools that have had these protocols in place have had very limited transmission, way lower transmission events than in the community. so if you can make schools safe, there's really no reason why they shouldn't be open. i think this is the big push we're seeing now out of the biden administration is to finally get these schools open, because they don't represent this real hotbed of infection like maybe we initially thought.

>> in at least 22 states, teachers were included in the early vaccine groups, yet we're seeing so many having a difficult time getting the shot. do you think they should be given more of a priority to get schools open? >> teacherbe coed essti workers. essentially alongside all the incredible workers that we've seen that have kept this economy going throughout the pandemic. every state is making decisions that are slightly different. and of course with this slow rollout and vaccine supply not meeting the demand, this is slowing down our attempt to get all our teachers immunized. >> in the meantime, even more contagious covid variants have been recently identified here in the u.s. do you think regular cloth masks are enough, or should people be looking in order to upgrade their masks now? what do you think about double masking? >> there's uneven use of masks across this country. we've shown by increasing mask use in a community, you can drive down transmission. it's adhering to masks, also the quality of the masks.

cloth and gaitors are not sufficient, especially with emerging variants that are more transmissible with every exposure leading to higher probability of transmission. surgical masks, n95 masks if available. yes, consider improving quality of masks. if we can't, double masking makes a lot of sense. it can improve the fit, it can reduce air pockets that would allow transmission to take place. it sounds like we're moving the goal posts but it's really important if we want to drive transmission down and avoid having new variants take over communities, i think it's a great idea. >> dr. john brownstein, always appreciate your insight,>>yo and coming up next, celebrating mardi gras in the time of covid. cue the house floats. ♪ ♪

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♪ finally tonight, letting the good times roll. mardi gras may look a little different this year, but the pandemic won't stop residents in hard-hit new orleans where the streets used to be parade central, now bringing the party

home for yardior houses into socially distanced decorative floats decked out in green, purple, and gold, because there's never a shortage of fun in the big easy. >> we are just ecstatic. and it's almost like a parade in the neighborhood. >> that is "nightline." thanks so much for watching. i'll be back tomorrow night on "abc news live" prime starting at 7:00 eastern. i'm linsey davis. have a great night.