Face Masks Now Mandatory

As part of its continuing commitment to keeping our community informed, the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District passes along this important information from the Office of the Mayor of San Francisco:

SAN FRANCISCO ISSUES NEW POLICY ON FACE COVERINGS

New Health Order requires residents and workers to wear face coverings at essential businesses and in public facilities, on transit, and while performing essential work.

Rule helps the City prepare for future lifting of shelter in place.

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax today announced that everyone in San Francisco will be required to wear face coverings when they are outside of their homes for essential needs, including waiting in line for or inside of a grocery store or on public transportation. Additionally, transportation workers and other employees who interact with the public must also cover their face while doing essential work. A full list of the requirements of the Health Order is listed below.

By strengthening this method of protection, San Franciscans will be less likely to transmit the coronavirus to one another. Face coverings help to stop droplets that may be infectious, even if the person wearing the mask has no or mild symptoms.

“Today’s Order is part of our broader strategy to protect public health and slow the spread of the coronavirus in our community,” said Mayor Breed. “By covering your face when you go pick up food or ride Muni, you are helping reduce the risk of infecting those around you. As we look to a time where we can begin to ease the Stay Home Order, we know that face coverings will be part of that future – and we want San Franciscans to become more comfortable with this new normal. We know it will take some time to get used to, but it will help save lives.”

The requirement is a Health Order by Dr. Tomás Aragón, Health Officer of the City and County of San Francisco. The Order is effective at 11:59 p.m. on April 17, 2020, but it will not be enforced until 8:00 a.m. on April 22, 2020. It is informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Previously, the City recommended face coverings on April 2nd, and this order makes it a requirement.

“My mask protects you, and your mask protects me,” said Dr. Colfax. “Covering your face is a great way to show you care for your neighbors, friends and family. We are going to have to continue to work together to slow down the virus and reduce transmission. The virus is still out there, and we need to be vigilant.”

Wearing a face covering is not a substitute for staying home, staying 6 feet apart and frequent handwashing. These activities must be continued faithfully as part of the City’s coronavirus response.

Face coverings should cover the nose and mouth and fit securely. They can be a manufactured or homemade mask, a bandanna, scarf, towel, neck gaiter or similar item. Cloth face coverings should be cleaned frequently with soap and water.

Face coverings do not need to be N-95 or surgical masks to help prevent the spread of the virus to others. Please refrain from buying hospital-grade masks so that those are available for health care workers and first responders.

Compliance is not anticipated to be an issue, as the vast majority of San Franciscans have been adhering to the Stay Home Order and social distancing. Many people already are wearing face coverings outside. However, the order does carry the force of law, and noncompliance is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.

Summary of the new requirements

  • For the public, face coverings will be required:
    • While inside or waiting in line to enter an essential businesses, like a grocery store or pharmacy.
    • When seeking health care.
    • When waiting for or riding transit.
    • When entering facilities allowed to operate under the Stay Home Order (such as government buildings.)
  • Businesses must:
    • Inform customers about the need to wear a face covering, including posting signs;
    • Take reasonable steps to keep people who are not wearing a face covering from entering their business, and
    • Refuse service to anyone not wearing a face covering.
  • For essential workers and transportation workers:
    • All workers and volunteers at essential businesses, operating public transportation, or operating other types of shared transportation must wear a face covering when at work in most settings, when interacting with the public or co-workers.
    • Workers doing minimum basic operations, like security or payroll, essential infrastructure work, or government functions must wear a face covering when others are nearby or when they are in areas that the public regularly visits.
  • Face coverings are not required to be worn when by people who are:
    • At home.
    • In their cars alone or with members of their household.
    • Outdoors, walking, hiking, bicycling, or running. However, people are recommended to have a face covering with them and readily accessible when exercising, even if they’re not wearing it at that moment.
    • Children 12 years old or younger. Children age 2 and under must not wear a face covering due to the risk of suffocation. Children age 3 to 12 are not required to wear a face covering, but if they do, they should be supervised by an adult.

 

SF Catalyst Expands

For over three years, SF Catalyst has provided a social and educational space to the SF bay area kink community. Now, SF Catalyst has taken a leap of faith and signed a lease, expanding Catalyst into the rest of the property located behind the existing play space.

This will allow easy wheelchair access to the main space, expand maximum capacity, create additional event space, and provide a secure outdoor area. Once permitted to reopen, SF Catalyst will be able to provide the community with options to hold two or more events simultaneously and to provide meeting space for more smaller groups than it can currently accommodate. They will also be able to host cigar socials and other outdoor community activities.

As an entirely volunteer-run venue, operating as part of the non-profit SF Bay Area Leather Alliance, Catalyst will need the community’s support to make it happen, and indeed to survive through the difficult times we are now in.

You can help make sure that SF Catalyst is there for us then, by making a monthly donation now, through their Patreon campaign.  For full info and to make your donations, please visit www.patreon.com/sfcatalyst.

For more info about SF Catalyst, visit www.sfcatalyst.org.

COVID-19 Resources

We have been asked by the San Francisco Mayor’s office to help our community stay informed about the COVID-19 crisis. Important information has been provided by the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and various agencies and civic bodies.  We have also compiled information from the Governor, and various public and private institutions, as well as leaders of our local leather and kink communities.

We urge you to view these materials, and share them with others who may find them relevant.  Thank you:

Please click here for important COVAD-19 resources and information.

Also:
Text COVID19SF to 888-777 for official updates.

Grants for Artists

We have been advised of a couple of opportunities for artists to receive grants to assist them during the COVID-19 crisis.

The first is an Arts Relief Program that San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently announced.  This will include $1.5 million in grants to individual artists, teaching artists, and small- to mid- budget sized arts and cultural organizations, and $1 million in low-interest loans to small- to mid-budget sized arts and cultural organizations. 

For information, or to apply for a grant, go to:  https://ccigrants.gosmart.org/


Separately, the SF Arts Commission has created a Relief Fund for Artists, offering grants of up to $250 for artists who have graduated from a Bay Area institution or who have have lived in the Bay Area for two years as a working artist.  More information and instructions on how to apply can be found here:

 

Leather Community Responds to COVID-19

Leather, queer, and kink communities around the world are responding the the COVID-19 crisis.  Click here for a frequently-updated document about the San Francisco kink community’s response, containing important information and links to other valuable resources.

In particular, numerous funds have been set up to help members of our community who are affected, either physically or economically.  Examples are the SF Queer Nightlife Fund (https://sfqueernightlifefund.org/) and the Bay Area Leather Lifeline (https://ball.leatheralliance.org), as well as Patreon and GoFundMe pages for various businesses and their employees.

Donations of any amount, to any of these funds, are deeply appreciated.  Try to imagine how much you are saving by not going out for dinner and a show, not going to bars and clubs, not using taxis or car services to get home, and not travelling to leather events in other cities.  Please give what you can afford.  Thanks!