A brief, oral history of mask blocs: Part 3

U.S. government officials began introducing mask ban proposals and legislation during the summer and fall of 2024, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has killed at least 40,000 Americans this year. Mask blocs in impacted regions were sometimes the only groups poised or willing to respond — even though they are small mutual aid groups, not political action organizations. Unlike political groups, which tend to focus on changing policy by influencing elected officials and state power, mutual aid groups focus on redistributing goods and funds to meet people’s needs, outside of institutional structures.

In this final piece of a three-part series, mask bloc organizers describe campaigns to fight against mask criminalization and how they are personally affected by these threats and new laws.

Organizers also share meaningful exchanges and encounters from distributing masks and connecting with others in their respective communities. Mutual aid is, in fact, mutual.

Read part one here and part two here.

Interviews have been condensed. Full interview transcripts and audio will eventually be available at MaskBlocHistory.org.

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Throughout 2024, laws that would curtail or ban mask-wearing were proposed and implemented in various localities, including the state of North Carolina and Nassau County, New York. The Sick Times has a list of these mask bans here.

Celeste, Charlotte Mask Bloc: A lot of other people and groups looked to us to be the spokespeople of anti-mask laws, which is wild because we have zero interest in policy or even activism at all. We’re a mutual aid org above all. We’re not explicitly anti-electoral, but individually, a lot of us are. But we’re the only ones doing [anything related to mask rights]; there are no nonprofits or disability rights groups that are [fighting mask bans in North Carolina]. 

Because we’re very autonomous — we don’t have funding; we don’t have any sort of non-profit-ness — we could respond immediately. We could just start saying what we feel about it. 

Our group, and Triangle Mask Bloc [in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill], are two mask blocs that have gone public [against mask bans] in North Carolina. We got a lot of traction on Twitter. And this is the part that gets sticky for us; no matter how helpful that was, it doesn’t translate to anything material whatsoever. Like, it didn’t work. The carveout added to the bill at the end was not anything really. It will basically be the same in practice. And for people to have been freaking out for weeks, some mentioned that they had gotten burned out. Pleading with people who already want you to die is just not my style and is not generally our bloc’s style. We’ve been trying to do a little education on how that’s not mutual aid.

I’m very upset at people who are ostensibly allies and how they refuse to do even the most minimal performative allyship. I have no faith in other leftists at all. I find them to be weak and pathetic for not being willing to do such a small thing [as masking in public].

I haven’t talked about being disabled, but I am disabled. I’ve been infected by [SARS-CoV-2] five plus times, and my partner too, and we’ve had significant health problems as a result. Any amount of not getting COVID we can do is good. The fact that a lot of people know that about me and don’t do anything about it — anger isn’t even the right word. I feel so much disdain and disgust at their lack of principles.

I have no faith in other leftists at all. I find them to be weak and pathetic for not being willing to do such a small thing [as masking in public].

Celeste, Charlotte Mask Bloc

Anonymous organizer, Charlotte Mask Bloc: I’ve watched movies with reenactments of political movements like ACT UP with the HIV crisis. Not that I anticipated that it would feel good to have attention on something that’s so awful, but none of [our bloc’s fight against the North Carolina mask ban] felt cinematic. None of it felt revolutionary or like something that I would recall as a cool thing that I was able to fight. 

It’s not like there was like this big united front, that a movement sprang up and everyone was in a meeting in the same room. It was just a weird boring time, like the tasks involved are boring. It’s not marching on the steps of the capital in Raleigh and making this beautiful, impassioned speech on the fly. It was me staring at my computer coming up with a color palette for a social media post, thinking about how I was so anxious, and trying to choose which shade of blue the text background should be. It was a weird experience. I didn’t like it. And I don’t want to do it again.

This was another thing that made it clear that this is not an issue that the Democratic establishment is going to get any better about. After [the North Carolina ban,] the governor of New York, the mayor of New York City, and the mayor of LA started talking about banning masks.  

And almost immediately, a woman in Cary, North Carolina was wearing a mask at a gas station, and somebody walked up to her and called her — I think — an effing liberal and said masks are illegal now, take it off. She tried to inform him that she wasn’t masking due to a political orientation but because she had cancer. And he responded saying, I hope the cancer kills you. That was an immediate consequence of the mask ban that resulted in somebody getting harassed and intimidated in public just for being disabled. And the only reason that the news really picked up on it was because she or the store called the police, who were able to then corroborate with reporters that this incident had occurred. I’m sure there are others. We just haven’t heard about them. 

Anonymous organizer, Mask Bloc NYC: My dad’s family is from North Carolina; my grandparents are buried in North Carolina. [I was thinking I could] travel down there in the summertime, get to know my family members, be outside and the weather will be fine. It’s interesting hearing how people talk about how they’re going to try to blend in [to look less unusual while in a mask]. I know the looks I got when I was in North Carolina before this threat [of mask bans and criminalized masking] was introduced. I’m a Black queer disabled person. I’m not going to be able to blend in, whether masks are banned somewhere or not.

I live in Queens. All my doctors appointments are out on Long Island, aka Nassau County. I went to my [primary care provider], and I had my air purifier plugged into the wall. The nurse went to tell her manager about it, and this man walked into the room unmasked trying to tell me that I couldn’t have a heater. I was threatened to be thrown out by security because I didn’t want to unplug my purifier. When we have that cushioned up against the threat of criminalizing mask bans, it just fucking sucks.

[Mask Bloc NYC made] a mock newspaper, The Plague City News. And we had a QR code [to a joint statement about New York mask bans]. I made a shit ton of wheat paste, went to Grand Army Plaza in the middle of the night and put up maybe 50 to 70 posters.

Everybody’s complacency with going back to normal has enabled this fascist law, this eugenicist logic about to become codified. We need you to help us push against this by contacting your legislators, but also just wear a goddamn mask. It’s not too late. Don’t make this easier for them. Please wear a mask.

The ongoing threat posed by COVID-19 surges has led some groups to experiment with offering temporary, urgent support. During a period of high COVID-19 spread last winter, Boston organizers briefly operated an emergency hotline for supply deliveries, in addition to fulfilling ongoing non-urgent requests.

Alex, Boston COVID Action: The winter surge hotline ran from January 1 to January 31, 2024, inspired by our experiences of getting emergency asks from friends. We started a Google voice number and turned off our active calls so people could only leave voicemails or text us. I asked a couple people in the bloc who had emergency capacity to be rapid response people, maybe four or five of us. Eventually, when we realized how high the demand was, we brought in a couple of people who are not part of the bloc. We are one of the rare groups that keeps our membership small.

We were still doing non-urgent deliveries at the same time as urgent deliveries. In that month, for emergency deliveries, we [supported] 51 households [with] 1,200 masks and 700 tests. It felt like we were doing a service that should exist and should not be run by seven queer people with cars. It should be run by people who don’t have jobs other than that, who are not otherwise in school, working full-time, doing other organizing projects. Did it put me in fight or flight? Yes. Was it sustainable? Maybe not.

It was definitely worth it, [reducing] the harm of that intense spread we were seeing in January. I wish we could have the capacity to do it again during this summer surge. It was difficult to close it down and say, “Hey guys, we know that we’re still in a surge, but we can’t provide this anymore because we can’t do that much.” We got a lot of thank yous.

It felt like we were doing a service that should exist and should not be run by seven queer people with cars. It should be run by people who don’t have jobs other than that.

Alex, Boston COVID Action

Distributing masks takes many forms, from impromptu interpersonal exchanges to prearranged contactless delivery for maximum safety. Organizers shared some poignant encounters from dropping off parcels in person, sharing supplies with fellow maskers, and handing out masks in public places.

Lily, Mask Up Pittsburgh: I have dysautonomia, and the doctor I see is part of a Long COVID clinic. They have air filters, but they do not mask. It’s very weird. At these clinic appointments, the wait to see your doctor can be three, four hours, and the appointment can be three or four hours. It’s a long day. I typically come equipped with multiple masks in case something breaks. I have a SIP Valve so I can drink water and take my meds while I’m waiting. 

A couple of months ago, I was waiting in the waiting room and I noticed there was somebody in the corner who was also masked, who was trying to drink water by opening the window, doing whatever they could in this flimsy KN95 that did not fit her face super well. I went over: “I have a couple of mask options on me. Do you want to try one of these?” And then she asked about my SIP Valve. I showed her what it was, how it worked.

I am not the most charismatic person. I am not the best one at talking to strangers. We were both just waiting for this doctor’s appointment that was going to take all day, trying to keep ourselves hydrated, and not get sick in this office that should be taking care of us and that wasn’t. It’s small moments like that that really stand out to me.

Anonymous organizer, Fight COVID NOLA: We were passing out masks and someone started crying: “I have immunocompromised family members, and I didn’t think anyone cared anymore.” Another person I delivered masks to asked for a hug: “I don’t have anyone; no one cares anymore.” A big part of the work is showing people that they’re not alone, that other people care, and that you know we’re all being fucking gaslit by the government.

A big part of the work is showing people that they’re not alone, that other people care, and that you know we’re all being fucking gaslit by the government.

Anonymous Organizer, Fight COVID NOLA

Alex, Boston COVID Action: I remember tabling at [either] Open Streets Roxbury or Dorchester, and a bunch of people who walked up to us started venting about the lack of government response. A lot of those people were not masking, but they were very politically aligned, especially some older ladies who worked in healthcare. They were basically expressing grief at abandonment in whatever language they had. I am very anti-abandoning people who are not quite on the same page, despite all of my serious qualms and the interpersonal harm that sometimes results. And it was really interesting to see in real time the spectrum of people that are willing to interact with us and where they’re at, both politically and resource-wise.

Sally, Mask Bloc St. Louis: We brought masks and tabled at a local mosque food drive. This summer they reached out to us: “A doctor in our community is going to Gaza. Do you want to send any masks with him?” Hell yeah we did. Space for supplies was very limited, and he didn’t end up being able to bring any masks, but the fact that they felt safe reaching out to us about that was huge. It showcases the importance of interconnectedness.

Anonymous organizer, Mask Bloc St. Louis: The goal is always to get masks on faces. The masks on the faces are a means to a much further away end, which is growing a community that supports and cares for each other so that we don’t have to beg the government to not kill us.

Anonymous organizer, Fight COVID NOLA: They say mutual aid is mutual. That feels so extremely real. The motivation for me and my comrade — I didn’t mention this before — is that we’re both really high risk. I have severe asthma. They have severe ME [myalgic encephalomyelitis]. We cannot afford to get sick, and it’s fucking terrifying going around people maskless. The more people are wearing masks around us, the safer we are. We need that safety and ability to get our needs met to go to appointments.

I appreciate everyone who takes masks from us. It’s not like us bestowing something upon y’all. It helps us every time people take masks. This work has had a big impact on my life, on my ability to navigate my community safely. I’m really grateful for it.

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Britta Shoot is a San Francisco-based journalist and editor. She is writing a book about early HIV/AIDS pandemic civil resistance. Learn more about her mask bloc oral history project here.

Editor’s note: Betsy Ladyzhets, who edited this series, has collaborated with Mask Bloc NYC through her band and obtained a care package from the group when she and her partner had COVID-19 early in 2024. She has not been involved in organizing efforts.

All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.