Long COVID Justice and other advocates recently met with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to share our perspectives and make recommendations. The meeting was organized by fellow advocates at Pan End It! and also included Mask Together America. Read our co-director JD Davids’ follow up letter to the CDC to learn more about our conversation.
S4HI endorses the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act
Strategies for High Impact (S4HI) has joined over 55 other groups to endorse the Long Covid Research Moonshot Act, which provides $10 billion over 10 years for the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), plus additional funding for related programs.
This bill will invest in much-needed research, treatment, care, and health education for LC and associated diseases. And we know that we’ll need to keep the pressure on and continue advocating for pandemic justice & health equity.
We’re calling for:
➡ significant patient and community involvement in all areas of the bill’s implementation including the Advisory Board - prioritizing voices from groups disproportionately affected by LC like Black, Latiné, trans, queer, and disabled people
➡ support for trials of therapeutics prioritized by post-viral experts and patient groups in the Long COVID, ME/CFS, and dysautonomia communities (don’t repeat the mistakes of the RECOVER trials!)
Learn more and take action:
Learn about the organizing behind this campaign at LongCOVIDMoonshot.com
Read this article from The Sick Times
Use this script and call guide to ask your representatives to support the bill
Resist mask bans!
Our central project, Long COVID Justice, has created a new resource list for resisting mask bans. The list includes links to organizing toolkits, information about resistance efforts across the U.S., news coverage, and more.
Tell the CDC: New CDC COVID-19 isolation guidance weakens labor protections, discriminates against high-risk people, and does not match the science
Strategies for High Impact and our Long COVID Justice project have signed on to Pan End It’s new letter to CDC Director Mandy Cohen, which demands that the CDC take a strong stand for public health and resist political and corporate pressure to downplay the dangers of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC’s recently revised COVID isolation guidance weakens labor protections, discriminates against high-risk people, and does not match the science. In response, this letter calls for the CDC to make changes including revising their shortened COVID isolation guidelines, working with other agencies in support of universal paid sick leave, emphasizing masking and testing as core prevention strategies, and publishing more specific information on high-risk conditions.
Use this template to add your name and send your own personalized letter to the CDC.
New project launch: NYC Needs Assessment and Action Plan
The NYC Long COVID Needs Assessment and Action Plan (NAAP) is a major research and advocacy project designed in partnership with S4HI’s Long COVID Justice NYC chapter. The NAAP will focus on people with Long COVID from highly affected communities whose needs have largely been overlooked, including monolingual Spanish speakers, people living with HIV, trans and non-binary people, and children/youth.
Read moreGabriel San Emeterio, S4HI cofounder, is featured speaker at Millions Missing protest in DC
S4HI cofounder Gabriel San Emeterio recently traveled to Washington, DC to speak at the Millions Missing 2023 protest. Millions Missing is an annual protest that raises awareness and demands support for chronic illnesses like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (MECFS) and Long COVID, and is organized by chronically ill activists from ME Action and other groups.
Read more