A hearty THANK YOU from me to all who participated in the call last night, and to Niki & David for emphasizing our role right now in mutual aid. This *is* what we are here for - let's not forget it - and let's come up with proactive communications and protocols as soon as possible!

Notes from last night's meeting are here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom

UPDATE: Sunday's donation drive event will be dropoff-only, the address has been changed from 'Omni' to '4799 Shattuck' and volunteers will be utilizing masks, gloves, isopropyl and distancing measures. Would anyone be around Sunday between 11-3 to help facilitate? Let me know, and I will contact you with Diana Wu (North Oakland Restorative Justice/Aunti Frances/Critical Resistance)

Here is a doc for drafting language to the public - from signage to our email newsletter - PLEASE HELP: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aIdk2OD8WjKbaA25hxaXObLKSle4mfN0hf4bTVt2yw0/edit?usp=sharing
* To plug in more directly/long-term, please join the Communications Working Group email list here: https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/comms

Here is a doc for internal cleaning/security/event protocols - PLEASE HELP MAKE THIS! (i haven't added anything yet): https://docs.google.com/document/d/17_ylvjDNb7p4IyHIiM_CxTn0dCMUbSbLcxItu_S2mD4/edit?usp=sharing

I am loving the resources provided by Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (who did an awesome workshop at Omni last year!): https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/resources/

Take a look and let's keep up this thread!
... or we can organize a new / revitalize an old email list for this work?

Love and solidarity,
Jenny Ryan


On Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 2:57 PM Heather Tanner via finance <finance@lists.omnicommons.org> wrote:
Maybe you'll find this useful: https://area9lyceum.com/covid19_course/
Area9 Lyceum and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), have released an adaptive learning module on COVID-19, using AACC Learning Lab for Laboratory Medicine on NEJM Knowledge+.


From: cclmembers@googlegroups.com <cclmembers@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Patrik D'haeseleer <patrikd@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 5:32 PM
To: Ken Litchfield <litchfield.ken@gmail.com>
Cc: David Keenan <dkeenan44@gmail.com>; Roberto Martinez <rcm00189@gmail.com>; Spaz Organize <organize@spaz.org>; Laura Turiano <scylla@riseup.net>; discuss <discuss@lists.omnicommons.org>; consensus@lists.omnicommons.org <consensus@lists.omnicommons.org>; FYE Collective <fye.collective@gmail.com>; thevillage@omnicommons.org <thevillage@omnicommons.org>; sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org>; building@lists.omnicommons.org <building@lists.omnicommons.org>; Counter Culture Labs Members <cclmembers@googlegroups.com>; Safer DIY Spaces <saferdiyspaces@gmail.com>; East Bay Food Not Bombs <ebfnb@angrylists.com>; Collective Phat Beets <collective@phatbeetsproduce.org>; booking@omnicommons.org <booking@omnicommons.org>; Liberated Lens <Liberated_Lens@lists.riseup.net>; Jenny Ryan <jenny@jennyryan.net>; <finance@lists.omnicommons.org> <finance@lists.omnicommons.org>; commons <commons@lists.omnicommons.org>
Subject: Re: [omni-booking] [omni-commons] [omni-discuss] [CCLmembers] [URGENT] Omni Commons Response to Current Climate (was re: "Omni as a distribution point")
 
FYI - Based on all the available epidemiological data, airborne transmission is not a major source of infection with COVID19 (as opposed to measles, for example, where just being in the same room with someone for 5 minutes is enough), so I don't think opening windows will have much effect. COVID19 is mainly spread by larger droplets from someone coughing, which tend to fall to the ground relatively fast (which is why the 6ft separation rule in the Shelter in Place), and by transmission on surfaces (which is why the focus on handwashing and disinfecting surfaces). 

That being said, if you aerosolize the virus much finer than what you typically get with a cough, live virus can theoretically stay in the air for a significant amount of time. This is a concern with some of the ventilator designs that are known to create fine aerosols like that. But if that were a significant factor in day-to-day transmission, the virus would spread in a very different way than what we see in the tons of contact tracing data that the Chinese and others have generated, and the Shelter in Place guidelines would look very different as well. 

Patrik

On Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 12:29 PM Ken Litchfield <litchfield.ken@gmail.com> wrote:
Heyall,

I have a few initial suggestions for the building protocols and skeleton crew providing for essential services and securing the building.

Here's a couple links below for your consideration in well ventilating your house or going outside as much as possible. Note that in Spanish flu times the open air treatment of actual infected patients reduced the mortality rates of patients from 40% to 13% over regular hospital treatments of the time, influencing the design of hospitals until the 50s when antibiotics took over and produced the current problems with pathogen resistance and nosocomial diseases.

I would suggest that a simple adaptation to the Omni building could greatly increase the statistical likelihood of diminishing the buildings viral load by opening all the possible safe air vents in the building. Perhaps if the some of the window panes in the basement kitchen could be removed then cross ventilation in the basement could be improved. If all the windows that could be safely opened are opened it would go a long way to helping to keep the building safer. The skeleton crew could wear more layers for core temps controls rather than heating any spaces.

Another thing for the protocols of the skeleton crew, if any "extraneous folks" need interaction physically with Omni that should be by "Appointment Only" in general. For when extraneous folks appear in emergency or happenstance at the door then they should have no access to the building and communicate thru the door or by calling a number posted on the door. Or if they do have reason for access, it should be limited to the very entranceway to keep resultant disinfectant requirements minimized.

The sign on the door saying that Omni is shut down to public activities due to the corona virus, with appropriate wording, should include a number of phone numbers for folks to call for various needs whether provided by Omni related folks or institutions or by official guvchannels. 

Any of these suggestions are tweakable.

I have more suggestions but would rather make them to the Commons/Building working group for appropriate discussion, so perhaps we could make a special list for that Protocols/Skeleton Crew thread and glean any commentaries from this list and incorporate them there.

Thanks Ken



 
From the Spanish flu times:

Googling the Open Air Factor from above article:





On Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 11:01 AM David Keenan <dkeenan44@gmail.com> wrote:
All,

Thanks for being on the call yesterday; I know we spent a lot (perhaps too much?) of the call discussing security & hygiene - I wanted to clarify my position on continuing omni’s mission given the present circumstances:

1. I am not saying omni should shut down totally, cease its mission in a time of growing need or become a fortress; we need to adapt and the question is how we can realistically and safely do so?

2. I am saying new, formal hygiene and security protocols around potential ‘events’ like aid distro etc should be consensed on, strictly adhered to and all such events should include full-time omni volunteer supervision with blanket authority to manage events in the interest of public safety 

3. I do think if possible a ‘security desk’ type thing at the front door where we can rotate shifts and also perhaps use the time to clean will be a good measure to ensure there are not unnecessary gatherings in the building and that social distancing etc is observed for those who are there and doesn’t depend on rekeying the door though that makes sense too 

4. I have a lot of love and support for all our comrades deeply concerned for our communities during this time and just want to ensure we rigorously adopt hygiene and security practices. 

All it will take us one cord omninom who is there regularly to contract covid and probably omni will have to be totally shut down. If we want to preserve omnis mission as long as possible we have to mitigate as much as possible that potentiality given 50% of us are supposed to get it 

On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 18:12 Roberto Martinez <rcm00189@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks David for setting up the zoom meeting. 

Katrina, thank you for connecting energies to one and each other. We need collectivity and unity, especially during these times. Because this is a delegates meeting, I am wondering what are the conversations we want to have? I think the meeting will naturally bend towards a conversation about covid-19 and our response, be that mutual aid or other actions, however I feel that we should use this space to hear from the delegates and by default the core collectives at the Omni, as to their status, needs, and concerns. I think we can designate working groups and other entities to begin the work of mutual aid groups, omni building sanitation, security, etc. and take it from there. All to say that it may be best that the delegate meeting be a little more private to allow space for internal conversations and stem from there to working group meetings. Of course anyone who is interested is welcome to join the meetings and we should make the change to this meeting public on our calendar as well - this could be a topic of discussion as well. 

Just my thoughts. Thanks again a todxs! 

-RM 

On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 4:32 PM Katrina Wehrheim <wehrheim@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks, David!
I just found the emails (was hanging out on slack) .. and wondering: would y'all want other comrades to join the call? I'm thinking of a couple of folks who are loosely Omni-affiliated (have held down events / are in solidarity at large) and are working on mutual aid in East Bay ... my sense is they have a lot of organizing energy (and more volunteers to call upon) but no physical location ... so this might be a good match ;-)
I won't share zoom, though, unless I hear some affirmative Yes .. and no objections .. 
Cheers!
Katrina


*******************************************************************
   Katrin(a) Wehrheim - pronouns: they/them 
   please feel free to call  914-4822118 
   anytime from 8am to 11pm PST
   sent from Huchiun in unceded Ohlone territory
*******************************************************************




On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 12:22 PM David Keenan via commons <commons@lists.omnicommons.org> wrote:
I’ll start a new thread to announce but in case it’s helpful, here is a zoom meeting invite I set up for tonite at 7p:

David Keenan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Omni delegates

Time: Mar 19, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 391 487 716

One tap mobile
+16699006833,,391487716# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,391487716# US (Houston)

Dial by your location
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 253 215 8782 US
        +1 301 715 8592 US
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 391 487 716

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acxcPEvxML

David 

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 20:29 David Keenan <dkeenan44@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi everyone,

1. Ok, I will set up a zoom meeting for Thursday and respond with that to this thread. (Sorry about replying from the wrong email before not sure how that happened)

2. I’m not sure if we have the same policies as I originally set up, but has anyone looked into whether omni still has business interruption (aka business continuity aka business expense) insurance as part of our package. I’ve been on the phone to Traci and Teresa at B&G about this a lot for other projects. If someone can point me to our current policies I can follow up with an agent on behalf of omni too. 

If we have this coverage, the way this generally works is we reproduce monthly statements (gross revenue) from this time last year ~ March through June 2019. We then report a loss based on March > June 2020 gross revenue. 

We couldn’t claim this until the loss was actual, ie in a month or so but whomever is handling insurance now I’m happy to talk with them and work on this? 

3. Re food distro specifically, as Niki mentioned Tamarack has also informally started this and we just had a conference call about bulk distro and possibly meal kits. We had pickups today.. Idk if FNB/PB also have access to distributors (presumably) who will continue to operate, but fwiw Tam was able to get large quantities of several items often out at stores like flour etc at wholesale rates. For food (but not other items) it might be worth centralizing and merging that effort? - Tam is small, but it is health-certified commercial kitchen adhering to strict food preservation procedures.. idk, but I’d like to be put in touch with anyone on the food distro tip 

4. I would like to work with someone at omni about a ‘family fund’ sort of like we had after ghost ship that could assist with a wide range of basic necessities like rent for low-income ppl and nonprofits including omni. Other, bigger nonprofits are starting on this and if past experience serves, unfortunately it may be mismanaged with like, Red Cross getting $3M to hand out blankets or not recognizing the undocumented which does not pay rent, preserve housing / community space or feed mouths which imo is much of what vulnerable populations and spaces really need. 

Would omni be willing to start such a fund with diy together with other community spaces? 

An alternative is to do a separate fundraiser just for omni but I like the idea of throwing down in a communal, mutual-aid like fashion. If we attempt such a thing it should be soon but it’s also something we can do in self-iso so I wanted to bring it up. 

Someone get back to me on the insurance..?

<3
David 

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 19:05 Roberto Martinez <rcm00189@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you all for replying and sharing your suggestions and concerns. 

Cici, submitted a formal request and I will follow up with her listing out all the suggestions in this thread as requirements. Due to the fact that my partner is in the "high risk" pool during this pandemic, I will try to limit contact with people to a minimum, which means I will not be able to be at the Omni for long or at all. I can continue the conversation with Cici and write up a contract, but may need someone else to take the lead on being at the Omni physically for this. Perhaps Sierk? 

I agree with Jenny in needing to focus and talk more about next steps as a community place-based organization. Thank you Jenny for reviving the slack channel, it will be a useful way to communicate during these odd times. I think should be a priority to try to figure out how to pay our mortgage, wether it be requesting belayed payments or crafting a fundraising strategy, we have a large and tight network that we can reach out to, that mat be able to help. Unfortunately, half of our income comes from event rentals, which as noted, have for the most part been cancelled, the other of course if office rental from collectives, perhaps this could be a place where we as collectives can be more proactive in. 

For our reoccurring meetings such as Delegate assemblies, and working groups, we should try to meet online via zoom or whatnot. "Safer DIY" it would be great if you can set something up - Thanks. 

I am inspired by the strength and love of our omni family. Rag-tag and all, we hold so much collective passion, knowledge, skills, expertise, and more importantly we hold a great care for our communities. I am certain that collectively we can rise up to the occasion and surmount the challenges ahead. 

Let's continue the conversation on slack =]. 

Caminando, 
Roberto Martinez 


On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 1:01 PM Patrik D'haeseleer <patrikd@gmail.com> wrote:
FYI - CCL does not have a big stash of N95 masks. We may have a couple lying around from the fires last year, but that is probably single digits. We tried to order a pack of surgical masks to be used in cases like this where we may need to deal with infected people in the community, but even the lab supplier was back ordered and had to cancel the order.

IF YOU HAVE N95 MASKS IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING, UNOPENED, DO NOT OPEN THEM! I think the local hospitals will be desperate to get them in about 2-3 weeks from now, when all the new cases from St. Paddy's day hit (sigh). They are currently not yet accepting such donations from the public, but they may need to in the future...

You should only be using an N95 mask if you are a healthy individual nursing somebody who is sick, and if you know how to properly put them on, test for fit, and take them off without infecting yourself. They are far too valuable to squander them to just walk around the street.

"Surgical" masks (typically just a pleated rectangle with ear loops) are most useful on an *infected* person, to keep them from infecting the people around them.

For some really useful info on DIY masks (get out those sewing machines!) and even cleaning and reusing masks, check out this resource: https://smartairfilters.com/en/knowledge-base/

Patrik

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:47 AM Jenny Ryan <jenny@jennyryan.net> wrote:
Hey all!

While I'm replying to Roberto's message, I'm also cc'ing various Omni mailing lists (including member collectives):

Yes, I think we should be a dropoff point - but only if the organizers will staff it fully and abide by extremely high hygiene/sanitization standards.

We all need to be talking more about next steps as a community place-based organization. I've revived our Slack channel here so we can have real-time conversations: Click Here To Join Chat!

Questions for the community:
  • Should we send a request to our mortgage lender to belay payments for a month or two? We have $30K as bare-minimum operating reserves (which I'd rather not touch), and an additional $15K in the kitchen fund. Our checking account is currently at a little over $3K, with March mortgage and utilities paid, but we are not receiving ~$1K in member collective payments, and half our necessary monthly income (~$5K of ~$11K) comes from event rentals... that have all been cancelled...
  • Builders/handypeoplez: I have put out a call/request for someone to install the touchless soap dispenser i bought last year - it is powered by rechargeable C batteries and needs to be mounted onto tile with masonry drill bits - all materials (dispenser, batteries, charger, masonry bits and drill) are in the secure storage; foaming unscented hand soap is in massive quantities in the cleaning closet (please lock! but share combo lock code liberally with trusted folks who won't steal all the TP ;) - it could also be wired to existing electrical. I personally can't do it as I'm currently a probable asymptomatic vector of covid-19. At my home in W Oakland, we have a box of N95 masks (I believe CCL ordered more?) and lots of food as well as herbs and some meds, so ping me if you need and I will leave it outside our door for you <3 Can also order things online if anyone needs and doesn't have the resources right now.
  • Per requests from Robb, I have purchased 4 bottles of 70% Isopropyl alcohol with spritz bottles, as well as a dozen air filters. Who is currently regularly at Omni (Robb? Sierk? AB? anyone else?) that can be my point of contact for delivery updates? If you think of other things we need you can make a purchase request here: https://omnicommons.org/budgetrequest
Some relevant announcements:
  • CCL has recently purchased various supplies for decontamination and cleanliness. Also a good resource for people with questions about the virus. Patrik, lmk if you need to go halfsies with Omni on the sanitizer dispensing station - if CCL is strapped, that is - cuz Omni will be in coming months.
  • Please donate to Omni and/or Sudo right now! Also, consider making a donation to CCL member (and my former beloved housemate!) Craig, who is working on a vaccine - he is currently trying to raise $1500: You can send PayPal donations to: finance@renegadex.bio - or Venmo: Craig-Rouskey
  • I'll be sending out a financial report with coming-month prospectives by the end of March. This is one of my priorities right now, and I'm downshifting my full-time job and other gigs to do it and will not be charging my $25 bookkeeper contract rate for those hours. I am concerned about the lack of financial support from events (most all of which have been cancelled or postponed), as well as from Phat Beets (4 months unpaid rent, $2,518) and FYE (1.5 months unpaid rent, $525) - PB & FYE - please let us know how your orgs are doing and what we can do to best support you and in turn, Omni Commons as a whole!
  • Current costs and recurring income sources have been regularly updated on the Finance Wiki Page: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Finances
Additional Resources:
Mad love & solidarity - and hope to see you on the chat! (link above)
<3 jnny


On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 10:07 AM Roberto Martinez via commons <commons@lists.omnicommons.org> wrote:
Hello all, 

I got a request about using the Omni as a location for dropping off donating goods. Are we doing something already? If not are we open to have the Omni as a drop of place? 

I’ll ask them to submit a formal request and take it from there. 

Thanks, 
RM

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Cc Raye <viviraye@gmail.com>
Date: March 15, 2020 at 8:16:01 PM PDT
To: Margot Brennan <margot@seedsandstones.org>
Cc: Roberto Martinez <rcm00189@gmail.com>
Subject: Re:  Omni as a distribution point


Hi Roberto,
Thanks Margot for connecting us.
Some of us are trying to coordinate some mutual aid and wanted to suggest a centralized location for dropping off donated goods that could then be redistributed.
Do you think Omni might be open to this for some period of time?
Would we need to have designated times?
Looking forward to being in touch if y'all are open to this.
Thanks!
Cici

On Sun, Mar 15, 2020, 8:07 PM Margot Brennan <margot@seedsandstones.org> wrote:
Hi Roberto,

Cc'd on this email is Cici who has a question for you all about possibly using the space for something.  Cici, this is Roberto my contact for the Omni.

Thanks,

Margot
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