City Repair COVID-19 Statement
CITY REPAIR & COVID-19
A COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS DISEASE
City Repair Statement
What you will find in this document:
As a community organization, we never imagined that we’d one day be urging everyone to isolate and take significant measures to avoid contact. But what is being called of us is truly the most community-dependent response. We’ve compiled resources for your reference here to have filtered information from verifiable and credible sources. You will find some of these below. We’ll also post resources and updates on our Facebook page and website regularly.
Collective care above personal freedom:
The next weeks and months will be a strong test of our decisions to place the health of each other over the urges to get back to some sense of normalcy. It is a time to quickly implement new personal habits and new household agreements that are based on very sound and increasingly urgent recommendations.
Social Distancing:
We are at the mercy of each other’s adherence to the Rule, which, for now, at least while our country and much of the world outside of China experiences exponentially more new cases for at least the next 3-4 weeks, is to do everything--EVERYTHING--we can do to safely and rationally limit our exposure to as many people as possible to limit our burden on support services. While our government is recommending limiting gatherings to less than 10, we are recommending you limit all in-person interactions with others to the bare minimum while striving to maintain a 6 foot distance from others.
Why Social Distancing now can save lives
In doing so, many lives will be spared and the soon-to-be overwhelmed medical system will not be as nearly overwhelmed. Our country’s healthcare system and leadership are the most ill-equipped for this kind of emergency and will be strained beyond its limits.
Mutual Aid:
In staying put, please ask for help if you reach a point when you need it. Grassroots networks are already emerging to help those most vulnerable. Start setting up home systems now for better serving you in the near future. We’re not expecting disruptions of electricity or water. Most of our needs to get through this are a food reserve. Limit the frequency of resupply trips to stores. Also, consider supporting stores disproportionately affected because of fear and racism. Asian marketplaces are reported to have a better supply of foods than some of the more generic grocery stores. Recommendations are to have enough food for 2 weeks to a month, but get only what you need, please. Share seeds not germs. Sing songs. Plant a garden. Be safe.
City of Portland Statement (as of 3/14)
Per direction from Oregon Governor Kate Brown, all events with more than 250 expected attendees must be postponed – and Mayor Wheeler has asked that indoor events in Portland be limited to no more than 25 people. That guidance affects several events which we at City Repair had been planning to host or to present. We will work to reschedule, and provide updates as able.
City Repair Actions
Canceling all in-person meetings: City Repair is making decisions with our most vulnerable community members in mind. Given the above directives and the fact that COVID-19 spreads from person-to-person, City Repair is canceling ALL in-person meetings at least through April 8, including meetings related to the Board, the Village Building Convergence and our placemaking program, and our Urban Permaculture Design Course. Future cancellations will be pending updates on the situation.
Telecommunications: We encourage you to utilize digital communications including
Individual: Staying at home and working remotely.
Interpersonal-small group: Use phone calls/texts/conferencing.
Collective: Using Video conferencing tools. Our main platforms are Google Hangouts and Zoom platforms.
In-person: If an in-person subcommittee/team meeting is essential then, six feet of distance must be maintained between all people in the room or outside, care must be taken to disinfect and sanitize shared surfaces, and if a person feels snuffles, has sneezes, coughs, etc then they may not attend in person.
Digital Meetings
Platform: Google Hangouts and Zoom
Please download google hangouts and Zoom on your devices, ideally both your smartphone and your laptop/computer(s) so that you can access meetings easily. Please reach out to Kirk/Ridhi if you would like support with that.
Village Building Convergence Fri, May 29 - Sun, June 7, 2020
Our annual Village Building Convergence (VBC), scheduled for May 29th through June 7th, is not canceled at this point, though postponing the event is a definite possibility. The decision will be made in time as we continue to follow government directives and as we hear the needs of the communities we serve.
Some Preventative Measures Compiled by Ridhi**
**We are not medical experts, and anyone experiencing symptoms should consult a medical professional immediately. Multnomah County recommends getting in touch with your healthcare provider if you have a flu and want to request a COVID-19 test. You can also call 211 for questions.
Wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds with hot water and soap or if unavailable using an alcohol-based sanitizer and warm water.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
Coughing into a handkerchief or tissue to prevent the opportunity for the virus-infected droplets to be transmitted to the folx around you. Even if it’s not COVID-19 this will help keep our collective immune systems more healthy and fight off less infections.
Sanitize your handles including door knobs, appliance handles, taps, and other frequently touched surfaces daily
Wash hand towels more frequently
Do regular steam inhalations to keep your respiratory system more healthy
Use medicinal smoke/ steam baths to disinfect the air in the house. Instead of white sage, you can use any aromatic and/or culinary herb like bay leaves, lavender, rosemary, thyme, oregano! You can use these for steam inhalations too.
Boost but do not overstimulate (eg echinacea and elderberry) your immune system by getting good rest and sleep, exercising regularly, eating healthy meals, and taking your regular supplements especially Vitamin C, D, B12, Calcium, etc.
Drink water! - at least one glass of water or juice every waking hour.
Drink Teas with Antiviral herbs especially milder ones like lemon balm, St John’s Wort, and garlic, ginger, lavender, sage, mint, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc. Do not consume herbs like elderberry and echinacea over a long period of time. Mix things up.
Try not to get too stressed! If you are feeling stressed out, engage in self-soothing behaviors that bring a sense of calm to you. This could include going for a walk, listening to music, cooking food, watching a hilarious comedy show, etc.
Some Resources
Anti-Oppression
Healing Justice: “Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens"This is a podcast episode, plus a whole bunch of resource links.
PDX-Specific Community Responses
Community, Healing & Care
Resource Kits
Maps and Statistics
Fact-checking against Viral Social Media Posts & Misinformation
Government