our response to covid-19

Extinction Rebellion Philly is a coronavirus-conscious group, and we have several ongoing safety precautions in place for 2024 and beyond to protect against COVID-19 and other airborne illnesses. Being proactive about implementing and maintaining reasonable safety measures is one way that we practice social and disability justice. We do not currently foresee reducing or removing precautions, as they are not disruptive to our work and they help us keep each other safe.

We are continually assessing our safety measures based on the current COVID-19 situation and the needs of those involved. If you are planning to join one of our actions, meetings or events and have concerns, please feel free to reach out to us and we will work to accommodate you. Below is information about our current precautions used in meetings, actions, and events.

Meetings

We take several precautions during our meetings.

  • Virtual meeting options: Many of our meetings are conducted entirely virtually; meetings that are held in-person and indoors always have an additional option to attend virtually.

  • Indoor meeting precautions: When meetings are held indoors, we have an agreement that everyone wears a mask. We also bring Corsi-Rosenthal box filters to cycle and clean the air.

  • Outdoor meetings: During warmer weather, we may also meet outdoors upon occasion, although it is more difficult to offer virtual options outdoors. We do not require masks outdoors, but you are welcome to wear one, and some members do. We are happy to instate a masking policy for any outdoor meetings where any participant would be more comfortable if everyone were masked.

actions

As all actions are different, COVID-19 safety measures are considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • Risk assessment: Action participants are provided sufficient information to assess potential coronavirus exposure risks and decide how they are comfortable participating. We will do our best to accommodate any requested COVID-19 safety measures for a given action.

  • Location: It is common for actions to occur outside, where the risk levels are much lower. It is also common for actions to occur in public places where we cannot control the behavior of those outside our group.

  • Inherent risk factors: Some members may choose to participate in ways that contain inherent risk of COVID-19 exposure, such as risking arrest. [If you choose to risk arrest, we cannot control whether the police take your mask (illegal, but not unheard of) or the conditions inside the jail.] It is never a requirement to participate in any aspect of an action, and there are always many different ways to participate, many with low COVID-19 exposure potential or other risk.

  • Masking by choice: Everyone is welcome to mask at any time, and some of us commonly do.

events

Events can also be varied, so COVID-19 precautions are considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • Our events: For events put on by Extinction Rebellion Philly or in partnership with us, we strive to institute safety measures aligning with those of our meetings, with the exception that we may not be able to offer a virtual option.

  • External events: For events organized outside of our chapter, we may have less influence over safety measures, and our approach is similar to that of actions (see above).