​COVID-19 & ACCESSIBILITY


masking & accessibility = community care = we keep us safe


​Mission log - August 2024: greetings from the summer surge! We all have a responsibility to ourselves, our children, and each other, so let's walk the walk and model true intersectionality across the Valley. We are honestly super proud of our COVID-19 & Accessibility Checklists and Resource Guides (click here) and invite you to get to know it.

Ask us for free and low cost resources! More info here.

And join our week-long Mask Week in September! Info here.



Why does this matter? As an organization who intends to move through this world in an intersectional way, we want to model care and do our very best to prioritize those most impacted by systems of harm. This includes incorporating safety and accessibility into our practices and encouraging our community to do the same. A significant amount of folx in our community express concerns around lack of COVID protocols or accessibility information being shared for events they are interested in attending and we wanna take a moment to pose a gentle reminder to those who may be facilitating events to please opt into modeling care in this way.


The pandemic is still happening and people our community are still caretaking, teaching, immunocompromised, anxious, don't have healthcare, do have kids, just wanna stay healthy, etc. - all things that we need to appreciate and honor. Please do your part to include accessibility and protocol information in all event postings and on marketing materials so that folx can make an informed decision about attending. Please also do your part to make spaces safer. Use your power! No one likes to be caught off guard, feel unsafe, or have to ask what to expect. Arming one another with knowledge is the least we can do so that everyone feels informed, safe, empowered, and cared for.


Use these checklists & resources! It might take a few extra minutes to add the info to new posts or to go back and add it to older ones, but doing so would be highly appreciated. Shouts to those who have been! We've received so many kind words for making these checklists & resources available and wanna send appreciation back into our community for teaching us, supporting us, and modeling care. We also want to ~strongly encourage~ other local organizers to use the dang resources! Make events as safe as humanly possible. Your turn out will be higher, the love & appreciation will flow, and intersectional community will be built. Please do your part for our disabled beloveds who we've learned so much from & with, and for all people who want to protect themselves and their loved ones. Remember that anyone can become disabled at any time and that "all are not welcome" when conditions aren't safe.


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"It's not about self-care - it's about collective care. Collective care means shifting our organizations to be ones where people feel fine if they get sick, cry, have needs, start late because the bus broke down, move slower, ones where there's food at the meetings, people work from home- and those aren't things we apologize for." - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 
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Free & low cost resources


We want to get tools in the hands of those who can't afford them and are prioritizing individuals in need. If you're a business or organization who is interested in buying in bulk for cheap, please reach out to us for assistance.


Check out these tools we've got available for Hudson Valley folks and reach out to snag:

  • 3M Aura face masks (white): These are some primo respirators y'all! They're nice and roomy inside & have a comfy foam strip on the nose bridge. Around the head rubber band straps. Free.

  • KN95 earloop masks (black): These are solid. Less protection & they touch more of your face, but still good. Free.

  • Rapid antigen tests (RATs) this particular brand, iHealth, works best when you swab your throat, cheek, and nose! Video here. They expire January 2025. 1 rapid test isn't really enough these days btw, so take 2 RATs 48 hours apart for higher efficacy. $3.63 for a box of 2 tests. (If you want to donate to help make them free, pay links are here)

  • UV sanitation boxes: These are great for killing 99% on germs on things like masks, keys, glasses, jewelry, makeup brushes, toys, headphones, etc. From our friends at UV-Can Sanitize! $0-$20 sliding scale.

  • Our zine, "An Artists' Guide to Not Being Complicit with COVID-19 in the Hudson Valley / Manual para Artists sobre comó no ser cómplices de COVID-19 en El Valle de Hudson": Available to read online or print out here. Free.

  • ​Our COVID-19 & Accessibility Checklists and Resource Guides: Full of readings, resources, how to's, and so much more. We love it.


To snag some stuff, reach out via DM or email. To join our distro team, same thing.



Still reading? Grateful for you! Consider following accounts like:  @luckytran  @shishi.rose  @jaydocovid  @blackandmasked
And homework is to watch the video "Why is everyone more sick?" by Lola Germs.



Forever doing our part to keep us safer. We hear folks Valley-wide wanting there to be large scale change towards liberation & we're here to tell you that opting into COVID precautions is a needed step towards that goal. Our collective well being is affected for the better when we choose to use mitigations & we hope our tools call to you. Lean into your autonomy to care for yourself & one another. Big care always.


We helped The People's PPE
reach their fundraising goal!



Our partnership with The People's PPE is how we keep masks FREE for our most impacted community members. They met their $3,000 goal. If you feel called to support their ongoing work, we are happy to accept donations on their behalf (just add a note saying "for The People's PPE"). While masks are totally free, we also accept donations for gas money and shipping masks to folks in need.



MASK WEEK 2024: September 15-21
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As COVID continues to keep us from showing up & as mask bans creep along the country, we are inviting New York's "Hudson Valley" to flex their solidarity muscles en masse.


WHAT: a week-long "mask out" where everyone in the 845 commits to masking up for 1 week.


WHEN: September 15 - 21, 2024

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WHY: (so many whys!) because "we keep us safe" is a verb. Because we hear folks wanting to opt back into masking but they feel alone, and we know doing stuff together is easier. Because COVID and Long COVID impacts Indigenous, BIPOC, & 2SLGBTQ+ the most and we have the power to take care of each other. Because mask bans target protestors & we're not cool with that. Because we can't all get free without a disability justice lens. So many other reasons (feel free to comment with yours).
WE KEEP US SAFE

​June 25, 2023

We hosted a hybrid community conversation with our friend Kellen to talk about COVID in the Hudson Valley! We sincerely hope you make the time to sit with this recap (especially because as of August 2023, we are currently in a national surge according to wastewater data eek!). So grateful for everyone who attended this event - virtually or in person - and appreciation to Kellen who facilitated! Very much calling all people in to walk the walk and to cherish yourselves/one another through safety measures.

We can and must keep us safe.

Click here for meeting notes and a recap.

Click here to view our resource guide.
AN ARTISTS' GUIDE TO NOT BEING COMPLICIT WITH COVID-19 IN THE HUDSON VALLEY
First edition: August 2023


​This zine addresses connections between COVID, capitalism, & creativity. Taking care is vital so we can keep creating, but we can‘t keep our creative practices separate from keeping each other safe. Full of best practices & resources. All are welcome to read, distribute, & adapt freely.
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Ask us for FREE KN95 face masks any time!
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Want to help distribute zines? Contact us!