Request Forms

Donate at Links Below

Masking

More Resources

About Mask Bloc MSP

Established 02.28.24 / Site last updated 07.27.26

A cartoon image of someone wearing a mask. It says, "Wear your mask! Stay safe MN"

Who We Are

We are a group of people who obtain, provide, and distribute free respirator masks and COVID-19 rapid tests to protect our community from airborne viruses and air pollution. We also provide resources to educate and empower each other and our communities on how to keep each other safer. As a group of primarily disabled and queer members our work upholds disability justice and anti-eugenics for the well-being and survival of our communities under attack by fascist governments.

What We Do

  • Distribute respirator masks across the Twin Cities to individuals and households, events, businesses, libraries, buses, and community centers.

  • Host pop-ups and events to distribute resources and connect community

  • Encourage local organizations, especially those focused on community care, to recommend or require masking.

The Research that guides us

  • COVID-19 is a serious illness that continues to spread through the population, via airborne transmission (https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abd9149). Each COVID-19 infection poses a high risk of acute and long-term health complications. While COVID-19 vaccines can mitigate some harm caused by the virus, vaccines do not prevent transmission of the virus (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2828508).

  • In addition to COVID-19, other viral illnesses (flu, RSV, measles) continue to pose serious threats to our health, as does the effects of poor air quality (measured in AQI) and from harmful air in peoples’ work environments (https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/air-quality-energy-and-health/health-impacts),

  • Respirators are highly effective at preventing the spread of airborne viral illnesses and protecting people from poor air quality. (https://sph.umd.edu/news/study-shows-n95-masks-near-perfect-blocking-escape-airborne-covid-19).

  • Immunity damage caused by COVID-19 has left us as a human population predisposed to be seriously harmed by another viral pandemic.

Research & Citations
Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses (27 Aug 2021): https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abd9149
Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review (22 May 2024): https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23
A Randomized Clinical Trial of Three Options for N95 Respirators and Medical Masks in Health Workers (03 July 2012): https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.201207-1164OC?urlver=Z39.88-2003&rfrid=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfrdat=crpub%20%200pubmed
In Search of COVID-19 Vaccines That Elicit Mucosal Immunity and Stop Transmission: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2828508
Effect of Covid-19 Vaccination on Transmission of Alpha and Delta Variants: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2116597
Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8721651/
Acute and postacute sequelae associate with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02051-3#Fig5
Silent Invasion: COVID-19’s Hidden Damage to Human Organs: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8112/5/9/156
Rates of infection with other pathogens after a positive COVID-19 test versus a negative test in US veterans: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40185115/
Understanding the effectiveness [... of] vaccines: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163445325000556

Website under construction—more info and resources coming soon. Thanks for your patience!