NY Mask Week

It's coming back...
& we're doing it STATEWIDE!
New York Mask Week: May 25 - 31, 2025

Click here to get free ppe in the hudson valley

click here to find free pee across new york state

What is New York Mask Week?

At its simplest, NY Mask Week asks folks across New York State to commit to masking up for collective health for 1 week.

Bigger picture, NY Mask Week is so many things-an invitation to co-ideate with folks inside or outside your region, a tangible solidarity action, a vessel to meet like-minded folks, a way to truly embody intersectional values, & so much more.

It can (and should!) look different place to place, but our intentions are rooted in deepening our practices of community care. While this webpage is being hosted on the Celebrate845 website, we've been in talks with friends and orgs across the state for months and fully support autonomy in any organizing efforts. No need to "go through us" - do your thing! But we're always down to collaborate or be of support.

Who is NY Mask Week for?

NY Mask Week could be for:

Folks looking to opt back into masking up but say they feel alone or ashamed. Let’s do this together.
Folks who are “still COVIDing” or trying to avoid airborne illnesses. We see you, appreciate you, and are out here. Let’s connect.
Folks who need access to free PPE including masks and rapid tests. The resources are out there—let’s move them into the hands of those most in need.
Folks wanting to fight things like fascism, mask bans, and oppression towards Indigenous, Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, houseless, youth, and elder beloveds. Normalizing masking materially helps everyone.

You know your area best! Do your part to call in your community and invite your neighbors in!

(And if this is all new information, we invite you to read some of the other materials in our "COVID-19 & Accessibility Resource Guide" here.)

When is NY Mask Week?

Sunday, May 25 - Saturday, May 31, 2025

(and also, masking is eternal and any week can be a Mask Week!)

Ways to tap in

There are so many different avenues to tap into this effort. This list is not exhaustive but is for community members, supporters, artists, dreamers, organizers, mask blocs, and anyone interested in being a part—even if you aren’t sure how. You know the landscape where you live and we trust you to accommodate, adjust, and fine-tune as needed, as NY Mask Week will look a bit different from place to place. Make it your own!

Here are some possible ways to tap into NY Mask Week:

Mask up for the week: for folks who don’t always mask but are looking to tap back in in solidarity. You don't have to do this "perfectly", but we'd be so so thrilled if you participated as many days as possible. Literal harm reduction in real time, as masks are a proven tool to stop spreads.
Amplifier or Designer: help get the word out! On social media, through in person flyering outside where you live, by talking about it wherever you find yourself, helping with press and writing PR, designing promo materials. Get creative! We're open to new ways of spreading the word.
Event Holder: wanna host an event during NY Mask Week? Do it! Events should of course be accessible, hybrid, and/or have precautions in place.
Free PPE Hub: if you have a space, venue, etc. and are willing to hold free PPE for folks to snag leading up to NY Mask Week, that’d be helpful!
PPE Distro: don’t underestimate the power behind doing distro! Whether it's a one off or building something consistent, moving the tools feels great and stays important. And not just at places who already have the goods! How can we get PPE into impacted hands and in places that may not have access?
Meeting Facilitator or Attender: a really special part of Mask Week is the comradery building! Holding meetings leading up to NY Mask for people in your region to attend, connect through, and have space to ideate within is a great way to build community.
Translator: ensuring that materials are offered in multiple languages is important af.
Dreamer: have thoughts that aren’t listed here? Do it! Try it! Ask for help if needed!

What are the goals?

This short list of goals was created with input from COVID advocacy organizers across New York State! There can of course be more and they can be more specific place to place, but here’s a starting place.

Providing PPE / resources for folks who are already masking, ready to return, and/or in need of PPE.
Building local & statewide networks of trust and support, which helps make folks who masking feel less alone and keeps folks safer.
Deepening our individual and collective precaution practices as a material way to show that we care about ourselves, each other, and sustaining our liberation movements.

What are your values?

It is our hope that any organizers and/or participants can and will support these values and these levels of care. There are many many more values that can be added, but here are some grounding points. We hope to cross promote one another across New York, and so we trust that anyone offering anything as part of NY Mask Week can get on board with these values. We also trust everyone’s discernment and do not expect every bloc to publicize everyone else’s offerings. This effort is new, is autonomous, is fluid, is an experiment - but we hope we can all ground in these values.

Things we are FOR:

Spaces and offerings that are intergenerational, intersectional, and center caring for the most marginalized among us - including but not limited to folks who are poor, working class, housing insecure, disabled, trans, undocumented, etc.
Freeources! PPE is a dang right and should be free/accessible. We hope that participants can believe or get behind mutual aid - not charity - and be of a mindset that community care is self care.
"We keep us safer" is a verb and are not just words we say or use for clout. We have power to do things, to work towards divesting from the State, and we owe it to ourselves, our neighbors, and our movements to stop helping the State cash in on mass death.
Holding spaces that are “open to openness.” This work brings up EVERY emotion—rage, grief, fear, shame, joy, power, a billion others. Participants will do their best to show up authentically and let others do the same. It’s okay for folks being angry at feeling abandoned by people refusing to mask, and it’s okay for folks to ask questions about navigating opting back into masking. Mistakes will happen, hard feelings can come up, and we can intend to center trust. We can hold it all—together.
Spaces that promote imagination, experimentation, and learning from each other. Different forms of "organizing"/"tapping in" are exciting and necessary. A different world is possible! And already happening!

We will NOT tolerate, uplift, or work with folks knowingly upholding:

Racism, Zionism, colonialism, fascism, saneism, classism, reformism (meaning that liberation cannot be won within the system or found in reforming the system), bigotry, transphobia, homophobia, microaggressions and bystanding, etc.

*If you have questions on what any of these terms mean, please contact us!
Carceral or pro-police models of punishment