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This is a live document, and is updated as needed.

Introduction

One of our core values at JFREJ is: We take care of ourselves and each other. Our community aspires to move at a collective pace and in the rhythms of our ancestors and traditions. We bring the wisdom of interdependence, sharing and valuing care, into the everyday. We know that we live in a world where care and care work are not prioritized by the government and where even the most basic public health infrastructure is being decimated.

So in that spirit of caring even as politicians and capitalism fail to, we are reinvigorating our commitment to each other. To protect ourselves from the ongoing pandemic and other airborne diseases, we require high-quality masking (KF94 or higher) for any indoor programming, and to hold outdoor programming when possible. We attempt to provide hybrid options for as many events as possible (please see the rubric/commitments we are making below re: hybrid access). In updating these protocols, we have consulted with our immunocompromised members, disability justice advocates, medical and public health advisors, and other organizations who’ve implemented similar policies. We’ve also taken into consideration that, on top of the ongoing reality of COVID, these policies help protect us from new outbreaks which the current administration has no plans to stop.

JFREJ is committed to disability justice and radical access in our organizing. We recognize that lessons JFREJ has learned from the pandemic has in fact made JFREJ’s organizing more accessible by developing our muscle around hybrid planning. Therefore, even as we regularly organize onsite events and meetings, we are committed to ensuring that our virtual accessibility practices last for the long haul.

We recognize that hybrid organizing has made engagement with JFREJ easier for those who do not live in NYC, which is also mutually beneficial, for JFREJ and our members. However, our priority is making our events accessible to people who live locally and want to engage with JFREJ and JFREJ is not committing to making all of our events accessible to people who live everywhere.

The decision to hold onsite gatherings is possible only if all members are able to comply with safety protocols designed to mitigate exposure risk and hold all of us accountable to our values. A few key values are guiding us as we implement these new practices:

We are committed to continuing to include everyone in JFREJ’s organizing work. That means everyone’s safety is important.
We believe in harm reduction and minimizing risk. We know that attending a JFREJ event onsite carries risk just to arrive at the meeting, but we are committed to minimizing risk once in a JFREJ space.
We practice teshuva or repair when we harm someone and we are all responsible for calling each other in, with generosity, curiosity, and care, when someone acts in a way that is harmful to others.
Formalizing protocols is about access because it allows everyone to know what to expect when attending a JFREJ event so they can evaluate their own risk.
There are benefits to remote programming, as stated above, and we believe that there are benefits to onsite programming.
Sharing food and drink as a community has been an important part of JFREJ history and many members have been longing for more opportunities to do so together. We value that desire, while recognizing that providing food and drink at events excludes members, as well.

The protocols below include a few significant changes to the policy that has been in place (with minimal changes) since we began holding onsite events again in 2022. We believe that these protocols more accurately reflect some of the practices that JFREJ has been carrying out over the last year or more—and more accurately reflect our values.

We acknowledge that some of these changes do not center the needs of immunocompromised and disabled members, and could put non-disabled members at risk, too, since airborne pathogens can lead to chronic illness even in people who aren’t immunocompromised. In drafting these policies we have tried to balance multiple conflicting access needs, as well as the limited capacity of staff. We are also taking into consideration other forms of care and the conflicting desires of different members. Finding the right balance, especially with a lack of guidance from the government or public health institutions, has been challenging and imperfect. If you have comments or suggestions about the protocols, or if these changes will make JFREJ organizing inaccessible to you, please reach out to shifra@jfrej.org.

Protocols below:

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We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and that throughout the year, we will experience spikes in other infectious diseases (such as measles and the flu). We recognize that the government has completely abandoned its responsibility to keep us safe during the ongoing pandemic. Under the Trump administration, public health infrastructure is being decimated even further. We also recognize that for many disabled and/or immunocompromised members of our community, the ability to engage in social and political action has shrunk as many organizations and institutions have loosened or completely abandoned COVID-19 precautions. Painfully, this is true in leftist and progressive spaces, as well. Even though we seek to uphold a high standard of precautions and access measures, we recognize that JFREJ has had and will continue to have events that are inaccessible to some of our members, and that put members at risk of airborne pathogens.

Because we cannot rely on the government for accurate information about best practices as it relates to COVID-19, we relied on individual experts in our community to put together these guidelines. We hope that sharing these guidelines and being transparent about our considerations will help to disseminate accurate information and educate JFREJ members about access.

We realize that not all people have equal access to information on how COVID-19 and other airborne conditions are transmitted, testing accuracy, or rates of chronic, disabling conditions from these infections. Key information includes:

Many people with COVID-19, the flu and other infections are asymptomatic—you can feel totally fine and still have COVID-19, for instance. You can also still spread it. Some studies show that anywhere from 20-40% of transmission results from those who don’t even have symptoms. Additionally, whether you experience symptoms severely, mildly, or not at all has no bearing on whether or not you develop Long COVID-19.
Rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 have varying degrees of accuracy based on brand, expiration date, swab collection, and user error. Rapid antigen tests are used to detect a high viral-load, so they are typically not as accurate at detecting early infection the way a PCR or molecular test can. It’s common for people with an infection to test negative on rapid tests, so you might be sick and still pass it to others regardless of what a rapid antigen test says. Rapid tests are not a guarantee, which is partly why it’s vital to wear a mask even if you test negative.
Infection-associated chronic conditions like Long COVID-19 can happen to people without pre-existing conditions or disabilities. At least 6% of all adults and millions of children in the United States currently have Long COVID-19, which can be worsened by each COVID-19 reinfection.

We encourage people to access further information at the links at the bottom of this document.

Guidelines for attendance at a JFREJ onsite event:

If you have been diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection in the last ten days or know you have been exposed to someone with a COVID-19 infection in the last 10 days whether or not you are fully vaccinated, do not attend on-site events.
If you have any of the following symptoms (not attributable to another condition), do not attend on-site events. In addition to COVID-19, there are other viruses going around and we want to do our best to keep each other safe. If you are already at a meeting or event and experience these symptoms, go home, self-isolate, and seek medical guidance. If you experience any of these symptoms after an event in a way or to a degree that is not normal for you, let the event organizer know right away, and contact your healthcare provider about accessing care. However, please remember that viruses can be asymptomatic, meaning someone may not have any symptoms. Common symptoms include:
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fever, temperature 100.4 or higher
- Chills
- Muscle or body aches
- Persistent or unusual headache
- Sore throat
- New loss of or change in taste or smell
- Fatigue
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea

Masking:

All attendees must wear well-fitting, high quality masks at indoor events (KF94 or better), unless actively eating or drinking.
- Hosts will inform guests if there will be food and drink at an event so they can assess their comfort with attending
- When an event includes food, we will serve food at the beginning or end of the event and will indicate in advance what time food will be available. If the food is before the event, we will serve and eat it in a different room when that is a possibility. We will prioritize event spaces with outdoor spaces for eating when possible. We are prioritizing making food available at events on weekday evenings that take place after traditional work hours so attendees don’t need to choose between eating dinner and attending the event.
JFREJ will provide high quality (KF94 or better) masks for all indoor events and will do our best to provide a variety of mask options.

Testing, Vaccinations and Ventilation:

JFREJ encourages all who are able to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations (please consult with your healthcare provider)
JFREJ will no longer require rapid antigen testing in order to attend most onsite events. We made this decision after consulting with public health experts. We will require (and provide) rapid tests for larger events (100+ people)

We encourage event organizers to consider air flow in the space, whether using an air filtration system or keeping windows open. Ideally, there would be cross ventilation in the space. (Check out these resources for air filtration systems: a.i.r. NYC, DIY Corsi-Rosenthal Box)

Hybrid events:

Ideally, JFREJ would provide remote participation offering for all events, actions and meetings. We are stretched to make this happen but we will continue to try and provide remote participation as much as possible. We will demonstrate this commitment by:

Providing livestream access for actions that JFREJ organizes (unless this is truly not possible for some reason, like the event needs to be low profile for security reasons). We cannot commit to virtual participation at events that JFREJ is not planning (for example, when we are a co-sponsor for an action that we are not hosting), but we will continue to speak with organizational partners about the importance of remote access
Including high-quality hybrid/remote participation for all official campaign meetings, all-member meetings (like membership assemblies), and similar events where decisions about JFREJ will be made, as well as for monthly Neighborhood Group meetings
Including high-quality hybrid/remote participation for large cultural events (Purim, Mazals)
Recruiting and training members to support hybrid access so that we can continue to include it as much as possible
Communicating clearly on the event page when we can or can’t ensure remote participation
Most importantly, we are committed to creating a vibrant, accessible community. We believe that all members should have various and meaningful ways to engage with this community. When we center accessibility, we all benefit. We will try to make every event hybrid that we can and when we can’t, we will continue to evaluate our accessibility overall (even if specific events are not hybrid).

Food-centric events, or events in public spaces:

Sometimes, JFREJ or JFREJers will organize events where the substance of the event itself is a shared, indoor meal. This includes a Shabbat dinner at someone's house or at a restaurant, going out to eat together before a movie screening, or meeting up in a restaurant or bar to eat together. At these types of events, we do not have control over our environment, and the act of eating makes masking implausible. We commit that none of our core campaign activities or decision-making will happen at these types of events. We understand that members may not be able to attend an indoor shared meal event, and we want to make sure that no one's need to forego attendance will prevent them from participating in a JFREJ campaign or meeting. In addition, we are committed to providing similar social/community building/networking opportunities that are virtual.

Please see more resources below: