As Covid emergency ends, activists urge San Francisco to remain masked and protected from eviction

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As the Covid-related state of emergency is lifted in California, some activists want San Francisco to maintain policies that protect vulnerable people from the ongoing pandemic.

This week, supporters of local safety measures gathered outside city hall with signs calling for the wearing of masks, which activists say should continue in medical facilities and public buildings. They also called on the city to extend its eviction protection until 2024.

They fear that if San Francisco leaders do not heed their warning, people at high risk of contracting Covid could lose access to public spaces.

“We don’t want to give up on the progress we have made to keep people safe during the pandemic,” said organizer Christine Urquiza. “And without action, we fear people might fall through the cracks, especially the most vulnerable among us.”

California became the first US state to order a quarantine in March 2020. San Francisco, in particular, has been widely acclaimed for its strong and early response to Covid, which has kept the death toll relatively low.

But as Covid ebbs and public life returns to normal, even politicians seem poised to move on. It worries Urquisa,

“I felt safe and protected [in San Francisco] throughout most of the pandemic,” she said. “And that’s because we still have clear and strong guidance on how to reduce harm and protect each other.”

Prevention of new deaths

Urquiza lost her father Mark to Covid in 2020 and says her mother has been suffering from Covid for a long time. She rose to prominence after publishing an unusually candid obituary to her father, blaming his death on the negligence of political leaders.

She also founded Marked by Covid, a non-profit dedicated to justice and remembrance during the pandemic.

Online, the organization is vocal and sometimes blunt in its push for mitigation measures—increasingly taking a minority position in American society. Personally, the message is more subtle.

Urquiza joined a small group of activists at City Hall on Monday to deliver a letter of recommendation to London Mayor Breed and the Supervisory Board.

Part protest, part political joy, the rally rose from the entrance to City Hall to the front staircase in the rotunda and to Breed’s office to deliver a letter of demand to the mayor’s administration. The group went from office to office to deliver a message to the rest of the board and briefly struck up a conversation with Supervisor Rafael Mandelman in the hallway.

Among their messages: they want to know the city’s plan to deal with the pandemic after the end of the emergency. It is not yet clear whether the city’s leadership has it.

“We are still trying to get answers to these questions ourselves,” Melissa Hernandez, legislative assistant to chief Dean Preston, told Urquisa as she delivered the letter.

Vulnerable populations

In addition to Urquiza, most of the rally participants said they were at high risk of contracting Covid, so preventing its spread is important for their health.

“I am disabled and would like to be able to safely access health care,” said Elizabeth, who declined to give her last name. “It is very important to maintain the requirement to wear masks so that we can safely receive medical care.”

The end of California’s Covid emergency means the general public will no longer have to wear masks in most healthcare facilities, prisons and homeless shelters, although San Francisco will require staff to wear face coverings.

Anah Sul Rama, a housing activist, said that despite multiple impairments that left him immune compromised, he was less likely to get sick during the pandemic thanks to the masks. And he said the same is true for other people he knows.

“It’s good to be able to navigate life with a mask on and not worry about getting sick,” he said. “The society we want to live in as a society that cares about our most vulnerable communities.”

Urquiza noted that several participants in the rally would not have gone to the mayor’s office, as they believe that this would be too great a risk to their personal health.

“How is this defense of democracy if people can’t actually talk to their elected officials?” she asked.

She hopes she will have the opportunity to meet with San Francisco leaders and work to prevent more Covid deaths like the one that shocked her family.

“Because of the loss of my father, I feel like I got a front row seat in the worst thing that has happened to too many people in this country,” Urquiza said. “And I don’t feel comfortable sitting back knowing that people who are more vulnerable than me could suffer the same fate as my father.”

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