​COVID-19 & ACCESSIBILITY


masking & accessibility = community care = we keep us safer
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​Mission log:


December 2025: it feels like the tide is changing and that more people are realizing that opting back into masking is a good idea... We are grateful to be sustaining over 40 Free PPE Hubs across the region with free masks. We sadly had to end the free test program because the U.S. Government stopped giving them away to orgs for free. BUT we just placed a bulk order for rapid tests and will have them available for sliding scale likely starting in February 2026. BIG love by the way to our COVID Creative Coalition for their awesome and consistent messaging. We remain focused, heartened, and empowered by this unexpected, ever changing, but ultimately beautiful work.


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Why does Celebrate845 still care so much about COVID? 


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The most systemically marginalized among us are the hardest hit by COVID. Full stop.

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.

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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. Invest in our long term collective well being. 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 or read our Resource Guide for where to purchase cheap tools.


Check out these tools we've got available for "Hudson Valley" folks:

  • N95 face masks: these are some primo respirators y'all! They're and roomy and don't touch your mouth or cheeks as much. Around the head straps give the best seal. As of September 2025, we have Auras, VFlexes, duckbills, and other N95s. Free.

  • KF94 earloop masks: these are solid. Slightly less protection & they touch more of your face, but still good. 

  • XL sized N95s: great for larger faces and folks with big beards. Free.

  • Kids & toddler sized KN95s: sizes for ages 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Free. 

  • 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 Guide: Full of readings, resources, how to's, and so much more. We love it.

  • Rapid tests: check out our Free PPE Hub page (here)! Free.  *Currently out of free tests, but will offer sliding scale rapid tests starting ~February 2026.

  • PlusLife at-home molecular testing machine: learn about what this is and let us know if you want to borrow it! Sliding scale $0-$10 per test.

  • Small UV-C HEPA air purifers: reach out if you'd like to borrow one for a gathering or an event that is COVID informed.

  • Cleaner Air Partnership Guide: wanna work together to make your indoor space safer? Check out the Guide and let's make it happen!

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To snag some stuff, reach out to us via our contact form (here), or visit a FREE Mask Hub (click to view)! To join our distro team, same thing.
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Still reading? Grateful for you! Consider following accounts like: 
​Crutches & Spice
Shishi Rose 
Wandering
Jaydo COVID 
​Dr. Michael Hoerger 
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.


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Join our COVID Creative Coalition!


We're not alone!



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 WEEKS!
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As COVID continues to keep us from showing up & as mask bans creep along the country, we invited our communities to flex their solidarity muscles en masse.


WHAT: a week-long "mask out" where folks across the 845 committed to masking up for 1 week.


WHEN: September 15 - 21, 2024 and May  25 - 31, 2025

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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!
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