Still Here: Q&A with Paul Hennessy on local Long COVID organizing

Summary

In this 2-way episode of Still Here: Paul Hennessy, a COVID-19 safety advocate based in the Los Angeles area and the Activism Director for Mask Together America, shares more about getting involved in local COVID-19 organizing, a LA budget proposal that reallocated COVID-19 funds meant for cleaner air to other infrastructure upgrades, and considerations for demonstrations centering Long COVID.

Find our Long COVID news and commentary podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, or listen below and jump to the start of the podcast transcript. We’re currently experimenting with our format, so this is an episode sans COVID trends focused on just one top story.

Still Here overlaps with The Sick Times’ newsletter, which publishes weekly.

Mentioned in this episode (in order of appearance):

• The Sick Times: Los Angeles’ $13M COVID-19 relief funds could go to building upgrades, not Long COVID care
• Los Angeles County Public Health: Public Health Virtual Town Hall on Long COVID
• Clean Air LA 
• The Wayside
• The Sick Times: Summer fundraiser: Help keep our essential work going into 2026

Additional audio in this episode: 

• Rude Mechanical Orchestra: Which Side Are You On? (orig. Florence Reece) 

Transcript

Intro (0:00) 

[Instrumental snippet of theme song, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra’s rendition of “Which Side Are You On?” begins playing.]

James Salanga: Welcome to Still Here, a Long COVID news and commentary podcast from The Sick Times.

[Instrumental ends]

James: I’m James Salanga, and I’m Still Here’s producer. I’m James Solanga and I’m Still Here’s producer.

In this episode, we’re looking at a decision made last month [Editor’s note: This was recorded in June; the decision was made in May.] by the LA, Los Angeles City Council to reallocate more than $13 million in unspent pandemic relief funds.

Those are going to what Long COVID and COVID-19 safety advocates say are unrelated projects.

Reporter Larry Buhl covered the story, published collaboratively by The Sick Times and LA Public Press.

The funds were initially designated for COVID-related services and post-infection care, but the money is now set to go toward infrastructure improvements, including roof replacements, street lighting improvements and HVAC upgrades.

For his story, Larry spoke with Paul Hennessy, a COVID-19 safety advocate based in LA and the Activism Director for Mask Together America.

Paul joins us today to talk about the Los Angeles decision, getting involved in local advocacy, and more.

The Sick Times: Los Angeles’ $13M COVID-19 relief funds could go to building upgrades, not Long COVID care (1:04)

James: Thanks for coming on the podcast, Paul.

Paul Hennessy: Yeah, thanks for having me.

James: Yeah. So first off, I want to start with just kind of a status update. When this story was published, LA Mayor Karen Bass still had a couple of days to decide whether or not to sign or veto the proposal.

So would just love to hear where the funding reallocation is at now.

Paul: Yeah.

As far as I know, that’s still going through.

We’re still trying anyway we can, but as far as I know, our budget is going to go through, although I don’t think it’s finalized yet. [Editor’s note: As of July 1, or this episode’s publication, the budget is now finalized.]

James: As I mentioned in the intro and as is mentioned in the story, one of the things that this money is going towards is, you know, HVAC upgrades. But that phrase is pretty vague.

So what kinds of upgrades would you and other clean air advocates like to see and how else could the city maybe support clean air?

Paul: Yeah, you said it yourself with the statement of being just vague in just [saying] HVAC upgrades.

So that may or may not hit the standards that we want to see in terms of clean air. The top-tier standard that we’re looking for is ASHRAE 241 or higher.

It’s to establish the minimum requirements of control infectious aerosols to reduce the risk of disease transmission in both new and existing buildings and major renovations to existing buildings, including requirements for both outdoor air systems and cleaning air systems, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance.

So essentially it’s more dense filters, more frequent air changes that helps reduce CO2 levels, reduce all infectious airborne particles, as well as smoke and pollution and things of that nature.

So it’s really a great investment, especially for those huge drivers [of SARS-CoV-2 spread], you know, thinking of schools, public transit and those major public buildings.

And so there are a lot of ways to achieve that in older buildings, as well as retrofitting new buildings as well.

So we would really like to see that, especially in this wording of, you know, “HVAC upgrades.” Seeing that at schools, as well as, you know, all other public buildings, hospitals, things like that.

But yeah, you know, other ways that can help — there’s obviously businesses that would probably want to do this upgrade, not just for pandemic safety, but for smoke and pollution and things that LA deals with.

And that could include business incentives, tax incentives to folks who want to upgrade that.

Otherwise, businesses just aren’t going to make those upgrades.

James: That makes sense.

And I guess just speaking of air in general, you mentioned that businesses in the LA area might also be interested in upgrading their HVAC systems because of things like pollution.

And the LA area was and continues to be deeply impacted by the wildfires that happened earlier this year.

And so, how have those wildfires impacted your advocacy?

Paul: Yeah, I mean, for a moment there, it seemed that a lot of places were on board.

There was a moment of, you know, acknowledging clean air and the benefits and air purifiers as well.

I’ve got an air purifier back here that I bought during all of that. And there were even companies that came out with, you know, discounts for air purifiers and things of the like.

So LAUSD specifically listened to us when we spoke at meetings, calling for, you know, air purifiers in classrooms.

I am not a parent. I haven’t been tracking if they’ve continued keeping those in the classrooms or if they just turn them off like they did, you know, at the end of 2021 when folks kind of stopped caring about airborne disease again.

So it was kind of a double-edged sword in that, like, there was a moment of attention on clean air, but very quickly folks resorted back to how they were.

James: Yeah, that makes sense.

And I imagine it’s also frustrating to see just the uptick in these discussions around the importance of masking, the importance of clean air, and then two weeks later, even while there’s so many other instances where clean air and masking continue to matter, those discussions sort of faded from more prominent discussions.

What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned through this local organizing around clean air, around Long COVID?

And how is that distinct from maybe some of the organizing and advocacy you’ve done nationally?

Paul: Yeah, I’ve done campaigns on a national state level and on a local level.

It’s definitely not as seemingly exciting on the outside.

If, you know, you’re working with LA Public Health or LA Public Health Commission for the county, it may not seem as broad of an impact, but we’ve definitely seen a lot of progress there.

LA Public Health Commission for the county had a Long COVID town hall, which had a lot of outdated information and not a lot of follow-up on what actions they were going to take — but they did acknowledge that the reason they hosted that town hall was in part due to our advocacy.

So I think the most important thing on a local level is to find ways to keep talking about clean air, keep talking about Long COVID, whether that be LA Public Health Commission, there’s LAUSD meetings every month.

LA Public Health Task Force has quarterly meetings and they make recommendations to board of supervisors as well as LA Public Health.

And all of these have public comment.

So there’s ways to just keep bringing up this crisis.

And progress is slow, but obviously, the more folks we have on board in these public comments talking to their town hall, their city councils, the mayor’s office, anyone who will actually listen, I think that helps get [COVID-19 preventative measures, Long COVID, and clean air] into the zeitgeist a bit more.

James: Yeah, I mean, that dovetails to something else I was going to ask as well, where, you know, how might people get involved in doing similar accountability advocacy in their cities?

Is there anything else you might want to add to that in terms of how people can get involved, like maybe how people can track, for example, the usage of COVID-19 relief funds in their city?

Paul: Definitely.

I mean, city controllers are a good place to start [looking at the use of COVID-19 relief funds].

In terms of, you know, shoutouts to places doing good work, I want to shout out, you know, clean air allies, Clean Air LA, Organizing for a Better Tomorrow, and, you know, Mask Together America, of course.

But on a personal level, you know, I was always intimidated to dive in to advocacy.

And I’ve come to learn at the mindset that, you know, we have to help ourselves here.

Obviously, there’s a lot of frustrations with government, but it’s what we have to work with.

So public comment is all about showing up continuously, time and time again.

You know, for LA Public Health Commission, for instance, they meet every second Thursday, we’ve been bombarding them with comments calling in every month.

And sometimes it’s like talking to a wall, but there are bits and pieces of moving the needle forward. And outreach doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as you’re advancing the cause and kind of getting attention to the things, especially for this ongoing pandemic.

It’s just so, so important.

James: Yeah, absolutely.

And I think speaking of pressure, another thing that you’ve also helped organize and participate in are Long COVID demonstrations, from D.C. last year to LA’s lie down this year.

And so you would mention consistency is a really important thing when it comes to getting this issue in front of elected officials, getting this issue in front of just people in general.

But with Long COVID being an energy-limiting illness, what are some of the challenges you found when organizing for long COVID demonstrations like the ones you have?

Paul: Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head.

It’s a debilitating illness, 200 plus symptoms.

So a lot of the times there are folks who want to show up who just simply can’t.

I don’t have Long COVID. I want to be there as someone who can support those efforts.

And I really urge anybody who may not have it to find ways to help because there are folks who want to participate in these things, want to make it visible, but just simply, you know, don’t have the spoons to do that.

This crisis can affect anybody. And it’s not just a small margin of people. It’s — it’s a huge underdiagnosed crisis.

And as an ally, I think the best way to, you know, get involved is listening to stories, sharing those stories, seeing ways you can help. There’s tons of ways to get involved on a local, state, and federal level, and plenty of organizations doing the work.

It’s kind of finding that balance of not exhausting resources, but also still showing up making this crisis visible.

James: What have you learned from working with people with Long COVID to organize these demonstrations to make them the most effective and accessible that they can be?

Paul: Yeah, accessibility is key.

You know, it’s — [in] the Long COVID Awareness Day in D.C., [it] was thinking about what places are accessible.

What can we do in a way that shows that visibility without, you know, exhausting folks? You know, obviously keeping, you know, mask requirements in place for these types of events, as well as virtual elements too, if possible.

You know, one of the things we did was feature video testimonials, you know, on a screen in D.C., as well as people who could be there in person.

And I would love to do in the future, whether it be art installations or more of that — sort of ways to get involved without maybe not needing a huge group of people, because there are challenges to that. And obviously making it as accessible as possible without demanding folks have to go across the country to show up and show support for a cause.

James: Paul, for you, what gives you hope as you continue to do this work?

Paul: That’s a good question.

Yeah, I think what gives me hope is is connecting with folks who acknowledge the pandemic is ongoing and folks who are doing the work.

I see great organizations across the U.S. that, you know, I may or may not have ever like spoken with, but, you know, we’re all kind of on the same team and pushing for that cause.

So that’s very uplifting. The local groups in LA, Clean Air LA, Wayside, places like that, acknowledge the reality of what we’re in is is a nice reminder when everywhere else has kind of ultimately forgotten the pandemic.

It’s, it’s nice to see this momentum building and has been building over the past four years.

And I hope the rest of the world catches up soon.

James: Thank you again, Paul, for making time for this. Really appreciate you just sharing some insight and yeah, thanks again.

Paul: My pleasure.

Outro (11:23)

James: And that’s all we have for you this episode. You can read the story Paul is quoted in, which we co-published with LA Public Press, on The Sick Times’ website.

Just a quick note that today is the first day of our summer fundraiser launch. You can find more information about that on our website and in our transcript.

[Instrumental theme song excerpt plays underneath the rest of the podcast]

James: This podcast and The Sick Times are supported by you. You can help us keep this work going by donating on our website.

Still Here is a production of The Sick Times, a nonprofit newsroom chronicling the ongoing Long COVID crisis. 

Our theme song for this episode is the Rude Mechanical Orchestra’s rendition of Which Side Are You On?, originally by Florence Reece. I’m James Salanga and I produced this episode. Our engagement editor is Heather Hogan. Our summer intern is Delfi Marchese. Sophie Dimitriou designed our podcast cover art. Miles Griffis and Betsy Ladyzhets are your co-hosts, and I was your host for this episode.

Thanks for listening.