AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 11
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Wellness<br />
is high, they would be more careful. We should<br />
demand clear and responsible communications<br />
from the federal, state, and local governments.<br />
AC: As we continue to see higher rates of travel<br />
and indoor gathering, what can/should we do to<br />
keep ourselves protected?<br />
PCDC: At the individual level, it’s all about layers<br />
— testing, wearing high-filtration masks in<br />
indoor spaces (verified N95, KF94, or KN95 grade<br />
masks), avoiding large crowds, using good ventilation,<br />
employing air filtration, getting the<br />
booster (and a flu shot!), seeing people outdoors,<br />
and avoiding exposures before gatherings.<br />
However, at the systems level, there’s so<br />
much more that could be done. Our governments<br />
should send out monthly free tests to all<br />
US residents and N95 masks (KF94 for children).<br />
They should fund fast and accessible PCR clinics<br />
throughout the country, because PCR tests are<br />
the gold standard, meaning they have far less<br />
false negatives than rapid tests. Make reporting<br />
test results easy and have data be well-organized<br />
and accessible to the public. Set up more<br />
wastewater testing. Communicate clearly and<br />
frequently about the risks of the virus, especially<br />
Long COVID, to the public. Get vaccines to<br />
seniors and into communities. Everyone should<br />
have paid sick leave. All buildings and public<br />
spaces should have ventilation standards and air<br />
filtration, especially in high-traffic areas.<br />
AC: What are the specific policies that you feel<br />
need to be enacted at the state and federal level,<br />
and what are the specific steps we all can take<br />
to put pressure on policymakers to address our<br />
needs?<br />
PCDC: We have a duty to protect our most vulnerable<br />
neighbors and each other. This means<br />
that we have to make public spaces safe for<br />
people who are immunocompromised, disabled<br />
(including those with Long COVID), elderly, and<br />
more. We know that the pandemic has disproportionately<br />
affected poor people, Black, Latine,<br />
Indigenous, and people of color due to economic<br />
factors and structural racism. With increasing<br />
evidence that COVID impacts our immune<br />
systems for at least eight months — contributing<br />
to the rise in severe RSV and flu and overflowing<br />
pediatric hospitals — this means we have<br />
to do everything we can at all levels to reduce<br />
COVID transmission. COVID is not the flu — it<br />
is a multisystemic virus, the long-term effects<br />
of which are unpredictable, regardless of one’s<br />
age, health, or any other factors.<br />
To this end, we need to mobilize at all<br />
levels, both at the grassroots, at the levels of<br />
our families and households, and at the level of<br />
our government. Lots of people who continue<br />
to care about COVID and understand its risks<br />
have been feeling hopeless lately. But there is<br />
so much hope and efficacy in coming together<br />
to organize in real-life spaces. We don’t mean<br />
going into unsafe public unmasked spaces.<br />
We mean following the example of organizations<br />
like Mask Mandate New York, which has<br />
mobilized hundreds of New Yorkers around<br />
mask mandates in public transport, by asking<br />
them to call, email, and virtually testify at City<br />
Council and Transportation hearings. They<br />
succeeded in getting rid of NY’s terrible “You Do<br />
You” campaign and in having the MTA [NYC’s<br />
transit system] return signs recommending<br />
masking. And they’re still continuing their<br />
advocacy, with guides like the NYC Mask Guide,<br />
conveying valuable information about which<br />
public venues still enforce masking protocols.<br />
If you are a union member, find another<br />
person in your union and follow the example<br />
of Academic Workers at the University of California<br />
who gathered 500 signatures on an open<br />
letter and drafted an article around public<br />
health and safety (with demands for masking,<br />
PCR test access, etc.). Through the course of<br />
their strike, they have succeeded in increasing<br />
mask use on the picket line, and bringing back<br />
masks to organizing spaces. And they’re still<br />
going!<br />
Individuals can call and write to their<br />
policymakers across all levels of government<br />
asking for a return of mask mandates in indoor<br />
settings, including schools, and access to testing<br />
and masks. Individuals can ask their members<br />
of Congress to support continued funding for<br />
COVID health measures and ask that they do<br />
NOT let the public health emergency expire.<br />
In the coming year, we are advocating for<br />
a return to mask mandates in all indoor public<br />
settings, especially medical facilities and public<br />
transportation. All levels of government should<br />
provide access to free rapid at-home and PCR<br />
testing, and the federal government should mail<br />
out more than four tests along with high-quality<br />
masks. Policymakers should support unionized<br />
workers and start requiring or expand paid sick<br />
leave policies.<br />
AC: How can we connect with you and get<br />
involved today?<br />
PCDC: This work is difficult and tiring as an<br />
individual. You must find other like-minded<br />
people, who either live in the same community,<br />
or work in the same workplace. Advocate<br />
together around specific demands; providing<br />
moral support to one another in the process is<br />
essential. Specific steps can include writing to<br />
and speaking with your local, state, and federal<br />
political leaders, recruiting and educating<br />
business interest groups to support these<br />
policies, and enlisting the support of local<br />
community organizations. Make small wins,<br />
however tiny, and publicize them widely! You<br />
are not alone — we are not alone — in wanting<br />
a just and healthy response to the COVID-19<br />
crisis — and together we can and will create that<br />
response. Join or create local organizations to<br />
advocate for COVID safety, or join us by filling<br />
in our volunteer form and one of us will contact<br />
you shortly.<br />
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