• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In after Baud. Damn.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

People are weird.

We still have time to mess this up!

He really is that stupid.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Harm reduction strategies for protesting in a pandemic

Harm reduction strategies for protesting in a pandemic

by David Anderson|  June 2, 20208:51 am| 13 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Information As Power, Shitty Cops

FacebookTweetEmail

Dr. Ellie Murray is an epidemiologist at the Boston University School of Public Health.  She has been quite active and effective in communicating complex epidemiological concepts on Twitter and in the general press since COVID began to spread.  She has an excellent set of tweets on how to protest in a way that minimizes the possibility of viral spread:

 

Harm reduction for protests in a pandemic:
•wear your mask + eye protection + heat resistant gloves
•yelling can spread droplets, choose signs, drums, or similar noise makers
•stick with a buddy group to keep your unknown contacts low
•carry water + hand sanitizer + bandages

— Ellie Murray (@EpiEllie) May 30, 2020


 

Yes, symptoms can take 3-14 days to show up and you can spread infection even before that. So, definitely consider self-quarantining if you can (& if you aren’t out protesting again tomorrow)

— Ellie Murray (@EpiEllie) May 31, 2020

Be safe, be smart, be courageous in whatever way you can be.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Militant Vegan Militia
Next Post: Real Leadership: Joe Biden Addresses The Nation Open Thread: A Real, Compassionate Leader»

Reader Interactions

13Comments

  1. 1.

    oldster

    June 2, 2020 at 9:22 am

    I’m an old man. I grew up smugly laughing at the “good Germans” who did nothing to prevent the rise of Hitler. I thought it could never happen here, and that if someone were crazy enough to try, then the nation would rise up and put a stop to it.

    But here I am, now, totally at a loss about how to push back. I don’t know whom to call, or what to say. I live in a rural area with a wing-nut congressman. There’s no point in protesting here.

    I drove to DC for the Women’s March in Jan 2017. If there were another one, I might go down again, but I am also moving slower than I did.

    I am ashamed of my own passivity, but I don’t know what to do.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    June 2, 2020 at 9:28 am

    I was just chatting online with some friends. Here’s ideas for what any of us can do from home.

    BlackLivesMatter.com has petitions to sign and other ways to help.

    Tori Glass is an educator with White Homework.

  3. 3.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    June 2, 2020 at 9:32 am

    I ran into my first unmasked person in a business today getting breakfast.  Not only that but he was kind of encroaching my personal space.  I didn’t want to make a scene, so I didn’t confront him. Besides his masked coworker was very nice.

    But I’ve been wondering at passive ways to get the message across.  Fake coughing fit?

  4. 4.

    artem1s

    June 2, 2020 at 10:03 am

    irony is dead.  just days ago Dump was threatening the governors for not opening up. Now he’s threatening them if they don’t call out the guard, rough up people out on the streets and impose curfews on what are mostly service workers who are needed to open back up.  Now I really can’t wait to go shopping!  if I’m lucky I’ll get tear gas with my toilet paper. Gonna be a long hot summer.

  5. 5.

    TS (the original)

    June 2, 2020 at 10:08 am

    WaPo has a heading up

    Biden delivers remarks on George Floyd protests 

    It will no doubt be lots of other places if you can’t access WaPo

  6. 6.

    Served

    June 2, 2020 at 10:09 am

    At the two protests I’ve been at, 99.9% of people were wearing masks. Organizers and protestors are handing out masks along with the usual food/water/info cards. Most of the unmasked I saw were people passing through or caught up in the route who quickly left.

    If you are trying to figure out what you can do if you can’t be there physically, please consider a donation to your local bond fund, or to the ActBlue bond fund

    Our protest in Chicago was successful yesterday because of 1) SUPERB organization from a first-time organizer. Truly inspiring. 2) White people showing up, shutting up, and using their bodies to keep the police at bay.

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    June 2, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @artem1s:

    These two things aren’t 100% at odds.  Trump is mostly worried about the economy opening up, and that’s not going to happen with massive protests everywhere. He wants a return to normalcy but can’t understand he’s making that less likely.

  8. 8.

    lee

    June 2, 2020 at 10:23 am

    My daughter went to 2 different protests yesterday.

    She started at the local one. While it was a big protest for a suburb of Dallas (a VERY red area) it was not as ‘protesty’ as she wanted. The protest actually marched 5 miles blocking traffic during rush hour on a major thoroughfare.

    She then went to a close college town (Denton, Tx) and it had everything she wanted. She and all her friends wore facemasks.

    I’m actually very impressed with my neighbors and the amount of people that turned out to march.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    June 2, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Wrong thread.

  10. 10.

    Tenar Arha

    June 2, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @oldster: Yeah. And all my representatives are Democrats. It’s not enough. Gonna give more $$ to the Massachusetts bail fund while I’m trying to figure out other ways I can help. (This 2 day old Twitter thread had multiple links to different states’ & cities’ funds)

     
    ETA updated & vetted list HERE

  11. 11.

    Benw

    June 2, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @oldster: there’s lots of stuff you can do as an individual! Just be visible! There are more people waiting quietly in your area than you probably know, who feel equally alone.

    Call your stupid congressman’s office anyway! Get a BLM tee shirt and wear it. Prop a black lives matter or antifascism sign in your yard and car window. When sports and events come back (it’s gonna be a loooong summer without baseball) take a knee during the anthem! Throw a rock at a cop car!

    Okay, not that last one :)

  12. 12.

    Bill Arnold

    June 2, 2020 at 3:59 pm

    @oldster:
    One thing everyone intelligent can do is work reporter/journalist twitter. Most reporters with bylines are on twitter and pay attention to it. Some are vain, some are unwilling to admit fault, but if you can get a new idea to them or a change of mind, any of them can amplify it using their media presence.
    Newspaper comment sections are mostly cesspools and useless.
    Also push back where possible against any propaganda that you see, with solid references and links and arguments, and decent spelling and grammar.

  13. 13.

    Bill Arnold

    June 2, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    @Served:

    At the two protests I’ve been at, 99.9% of people were wearing masks.

    Good. At this point it’s reasonably safe to say that enforcing mask discipline, even when tear gassed, is probably the most important SARS-CoV-2 harm reduction measure.
    When police use tear gas, they are probably (depending on crowd size and infected rate in the area) causing SARS-CoV-2 droplet sprays through coughing; face coverings and dilution due to protests being outside will help though. Frankly, unnecessary use of tear gas to break up a peaceable assembly like at Lafayette Park last night during an active respiratory virus pandemic should be prosecuted. (Reckless endangerment at the least. Also a violation of first amendment rights.)

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Turquoise blue spring with trees on the far bank
Image by Betty Cracker (6/15/25)

Recent Comments

  • NaijaGal on Sunday Night Open Thread (Jun 16, 2025 @ 1:51am)
  • Jackie on Breaking: Minnesota (‘Suspected’) Political Assassin In Custody (Jun 16, 2025 @ 1:50am)
  • Darkrose on Breaking: Minnesota (‘Suspected’) Political Assassin In Custody (Jun 16, 2025 @ 1:37am)
  • Hungry Joe on Sunday Night Open Thread (Jun 16, 2025 @ 1:32am)
  • NaijaGal on Sunday Night Open Thread (Jun 16, 2025 @ 1:28am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!