User:Laflaneuse/sandbox

A mask bloc is a mutual aid group focused on disability justice that participates in advocacy by distributing high filtration masks for free as mitigation against transmission of COVID-19 or other health issues such as wildfire smoke.

https://sse.tulane.edu/content/tulane-researchers-studying-challenges-food-service-workers-during-covid-19-pandemic

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10559526/

Foremost, during the BA.1 Omicron surge, we led the first known research study [48] that involved distributing high-quality N95 masks to the community, launching our program before the New Orleans city and federal initiatives. We disseminated the work widely on social media, helping communities across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia to develop “mask blocs” to provide free masks to those working in high-exposure settings or with medical vulnerabilities. A New Orleans mask bloc called Fight COVID NOLA – building upon but independent of our group – has now given away thousands of masks, often targeting support for the food service community.

https://sourcenm.com/2023/08/01/this-group-was-handing-out-free-masks-outside-an-albuquerque-hospital-then-security-stepped-in/

https://thesicktimes.org/2023/12/05/project-n95-ending-mask-store-free-distributions-by-the-end-of-2023/

How to Start a Mask Bloc https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yF1-pCKt2JVHG8Cj6FRo8tMngRQpgSWI87A5cHq2qws/edit#heading=h.vg1xnany3qbj

https://www.portlandmercury.com/coronavirus/2023/02/23/46369646/oregons-possible-removal-of-covid-precautions-prompts-mixed-reactions

https://www.capradio.org/articles/2023/08/14/that-summer-flu-its-probably-covid/

---

Mitra Jalali is the City Council President for Saint Paul, Minnesota and serves as the City Council Member for the city's Ward 4. She became the first Iranian American elected official in Minnesota when she was initially elected to Saint Paul's City Council in 2018. https://sahanjournal.com/culture-community/iranian-minnesotans-rally-nicollet-mall-minneapolis-mahsa-amini/

Early life and career

Jalali was born to Hossein Jalali and in . Her father came to the U.S. as a high school exchange student in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1978 when he was 16 years old. https://sahanjournal.com/culture-community/iranian-minnesotans-rally-nicollet-mall-minneapolis-mahsa-amini/ Her mother

Her father organizes the annual Twin Cities Iranian Culture Festival.https://sahanjournal.com/culture-community/iranian-minnesotans-rally-nicollet-mall-minneapolis-mahsa-amini/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/03/for-many-iranian-american-families-this-moment-has-us-sick-and-terrified

Political career

Jalali became the first Iranian American to hold elected office in Minnesota in 2018 when she was elected to represent Ward 4 in Saint Paul as a City Council Member. She was also the second woman of color to hold elected office in Saint Paul. https://www.womenspress.com/the-unprecedented-saint-paul-city-council-takes-office/