#KeepMasksInHealthCareNY ACTION Toolkit:

COVID Advocacy NY is an advocacy group led by concerned New Yorkers working to improve COVID prevention efforts in New York City and New York State.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COVIDAdvocacyNY

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/COVIDAdvocacyNY

Website: COVIDAdvocacyNY.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/COVIDAdvocacyNY 

Shortlink to this Action Toolkit: bit.ly/NYActionToolkit

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New York State ended the mask mandate for healthcare settings on Sunday, February 12, 2023. This decision put all New Yorkers at risk. Ending the mask requirements in healthcare settings abandons the state’s responsibility for public health and endangers people’s lives.

We need New York to reinstate the mask requirements for healthcare settings. We also need hospitals, doctor’s offices, and other medical and dental offices to keep their mask requirements in place.

Actions to take on the state and local level below.

ACTIONS TO TAKE - STATE LEVEL:

1. Send a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, Health Commissioner, and your New York State Senator and Assemblymember through our letter campaign, and ask them to reinstate the mask requirements for healthcare settings.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/reinstate-the-mask-mandate-for-healthcare-settings-in-ny 

2. Please help spread the word and share the Letter Campaign above with your friends and loved ones, as well as other organizations and communities you’re a part of. Post it on your social media with the hashtag #KeepMasksInHealthCare and #KeepMasksInHealthCareNY. Share it by email.  
   

3. Call and email the Governor and State Health Commissioner.

1. Governor Kathy Hochul:

1. 212-681-4580 and 518-474-8390 (For voicemail - hit 3, then 1)
2. Contact Form: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

2. Health Commissioner:

1. 518-474-2011
2. Email: DOHWeb@Health.NY.Gov (Attention Commissioner)
   
   

4. Call and email your NY State Senator and Assemblymember.

1. Find your State Senator and Assemblymember and their contact info at https://whoaremyrepresentatives.org/
2. Save them in your phone and email contacts so you can contact them daily/weekly!
3. Tweet at them, too!
   
   

5. Email, call, and tweet at NYS Senate and Assembly Health Committee Chairs.

1. NYS Senate Health Committee Chair J. Gustavo Rivera

1. Phone: Albany Office - 518-455-3395
2. Email: grivera@nysenate.gov
3. Twitter: @NYSenatorRivera

2. NYS Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin

1. Phone: Albany Office - 518-455-5585
2. Email:  paulina@nyassembly.gov
3. Twitter:  @AmyPaulin
   
   

6. Post on social media - #KeepMasksInHealthCare and #KeepMasksInHealthCareNY. Social Media toolkit below.

ACTIONS TO TAKE - LOCAL LEVEL:

NEW YORK CITY:

7. Email NYC Mayor Adams and NYC Health Commissioner.  

1.  New York City Mayor Eric Adams

1. Online form: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page

2. NYC Commissioner of Health

1. Email form: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/home/mail/html/maildoh.html 
   
   

8. Contact your NYC Council Member.

1. Find your City Council member and their contact info here - https://www.mygovnyc.org/
   
   

9. Contact Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President.

1. Phone: 212-669-8300
2. Email:  info@manhattanbp.nyc.gov 

OUTSIDE OF NYC:

10.  Call, email, and tweet your City and County Department of Health.

1. Find your County Department of Health: https://www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information/
2. Find your County’s government website and contact your County Executive: https://www.ny.gov/counties
3. Find your City or Village’s contact info: https://www.nycom.org/resources/city-village-directory

ACTIONS TO TAKE - MEDICAL FACILITIES:

11. Call and email your local hospital, doctor’s office, and other medical and dental offices and urge them to keep their mask requirements in place.  It is now up to individual medical facilities whether to require masks and follow CDC guidance on masking.  
    
    Contact the patient advocates and administrators at hospitals and health systems in NY and urge them to reinstate their mask requirements.  We have put together a guide which includes a script and a list of phone numbers and emails of Patient Advocates & Administrators at many major hospitals and health systems in New York and have highlighted which hospitals and medical settings have ended their mask mandate. View our guide and take action here: bit.ly/NYHospitalContacts

12.  At COVID Advocacy NY, we are tracking which hospitals, doctors offices, etc are still requiring masks. Please email COVID Advocacy NY (COVIDAdvocacyNY@gmail.com) if your hospital or healthcare center has ended their mask mandate.
    
    We are maintaining a public list. Our current list of medical spaces that have announced their masking policies is online at http://bit.ly/NYHealthMaskGuide

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS:

13.  At COVID Advocacy NY, we are organizing with workers and patients to call for healthcare settings to keep mask requirements. If you work at a healthcare setting and would like to get involved, please email us at COVIDAdvocacyNY@gmail.com
    

14.  Sign up for COVID Advocacy NY’s Action mailing list, online here, to get information about future actions.

Background:

• COVID-19 Overview in NY:

• According to estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in 2022, COVID-19 cases are being undercounted by 20 to 25 times in the US, largely due to uncounted home tests.
• We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still losing people to COVID-19 every day and many New Yorkers are struggling with Long COVID.
• XBB.1.5 was one of the most transmissible variants and appears to have been generated in New York.
• COVID was the #3 cause of death in the US in 2022 for the third year in a row, as of September 2022.
• Many people in the US have health conditions that put them at higher risk for severe COVID-19, according to the CDC. Some of these include older age, cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, chronic lung diseases (asthma, COPD, and more), cystic fibrosis, dementia or other neurological conditions, diabetes, some disabilities, heart conditions, HIV infection, immunocompromised condition, mental health conditions, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease or thalassemia, smoking (current or former), solid organ or blood stem cell transplant, stroke or cerebrovascular disease, substance use disorders, tuberculosis, and more.
  
  

• Ending the Mask Mandate in Healthcare Settings in NY:

• Governor Hochul and NYS Health Commissioner need to reinstate the mask mandate in healthcare settings.
• New York State let the mask mandate for healthcare settings expire on Sunday, February 12, 2023.
• City and county leaders across NYS should reinstate the mask mandate in healthcare settings on a local level.
• Ending the mask mandate in healthcare settings in NY in the midst of ongoing COVID pandemic abandons the state’s responsibility for public health and endangers people’s lives.
• New York State should continue its mask requirements for healthcare settings. COVID cases are vastly undercounted. Everyone has a right to access medical care without risking their lives or health in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ending the mask mandate leaves it up to individual hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices to track COVID-19 Community Transmission and CDC guidance to decide for themselves whether to require masks. This responsibility creates an extra burden for already overworked healthcare personnel, which will result in many places not keeping up to date and allowing safety standards to slide. An advisory to follow CDC guidelines is not enough. This risk is exactly why we still need state public health rules like mask mandates in medical settings.
  
  

• Importance of Mask Mandates in Healthcare Settings in NY:

• Ending the mask mandate in healthcare settings puts all New Yorkers at risk, particularly people who are at higher risk and the most vulnerable.
• Ending the mask mandate in medical settings has led to more unsafe medical settings and more people postponing needed medical care, particularly people who are at higher risk such as those who are immunocompromised, disabled, or elderly. It is unacceptable to make medical care inaccessible, especially for the most vulnerable amongst us.
  
  

• Research on Masks and Support for Masking and Mask Mandates:

• Studies show that masks are a critical tool to reduce COVID-19 transmission, and they are most effective when everyone wears one.
• Research shows that many people will mask if they realize COVID transmission is high, but they think COVID rates are much lower than they actually are.

• A CDC study showed that people are more willing to wear a mask when there’s high COVID transmission, however many people also think COVID transmission levels are much lower than they actually are. 
• An Ipsos poll in December 2022 showed that most people were likely to wear a mask if COVID-19 cases were to increase again in their area.

• Many people in the US still support masking and mask mandates, especially communities of color,  Democrats, and people with lower incomes. Multiple polls and surveys continue to show this.

• A Data for Progress poll from December 2022 shows that a majority of voters (56%) support mask mandates, especially Democrat (82%), Black (71%) and Latinx (80%) voters.
• A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March 2022 showed majority support for mask mandates, especially people of color, and people with lower household incomes.  
  

• More information available in our Fact Sheet on COVID-19 in New York, Masking, and Policy Recommendations - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IDragX0U8t1sGiHB7j4tbk3eKstGzAzofaDwadswtec/edit?usp=sharing 
• More info in our Public Statement from February 2023, online at https://covidadvocacyny.substack.com/p/mandate-masks-ny-condemns-new-york
  
  

#KeepMasksInHealthCare in NY SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT

COVID Advocacy NY/Mandate Masks NY held a Tweetstorm on Tuesday, February 14th, 2023, from 12-1pm EST in collaboration with Senior and Disability Action in CA. We called on officials to #KeepMasksInHealthCare! We called to #KeepMasksInHealthCareNY and in solidarity with their campaign to #KeepMasksInHealthCareCA!

Sample Tweets:

Everyone has a right to access health care safely. No one should have to risk their lives or health to seek necessary care. #KeepMasksInHealthcare

New Yorkers, we need to take action to #KeepMasksInHealthCare in NY! ACTION Toolkit with multiple actions we can all take to #KeepMasksInHealthCareNY bit.ly/KeepMasksInHealthCareNYAction 

Because doctors, nurses, front desk staff, janitors, and other essential healthcare staff deserve to be protected. #KeepMasksInHealthcareNY #KeepMasksInHealthCare

Many New Yorkers are still hospitalized with Covid. We need to protect the most vulnerable and #KeepMasksInHealthCareNY https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/daily-hospitalization-summary 

We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still losing people to COVID-19 every day and many New Yorkers are struggling with #LongCOVID. #KeepMasksInHealthCare

New York must #KeepMasksInHealthCare or high-risk NYers have to choose between necessary healthcare and potential exposure to Covid-19.

Ending the mask mandate in healthcare settings in NY abandons the state’s responsibility for public health and endangers people’s lives. #KeepMasksinHealthcare

Everyone has a right to access medical care safely. Everyone is at risk of serious health issues from COVID and #LongCOVID.  #KeepMasksInHealthCare 

#COVID19 can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke. #KeepMasksInHealthCare

No one should have to risk their lives or health to access medical care. NY needs to reinstate the mask mandate in medical settings, @GovKathyHochul, @NYHealthCommish, @NYSenatorRivera @AmyPaulin. #KeepMasksInHealthcare

Good thread to RT that highlights polling data that shows many people in US and NY still support masking and mask mandates! https://twitter.com/COVIDAdvocacyNY/status/1618114465328951296?s=20