The nation’s first Independent Living Center calls on Bay Area transportation authorities and others to take action and demonstrate leadership by protecting riders and travelers with disabilities while the effects of the on-going pandemic are still unclear.

(Berkeley, CA) – The Center for Independent Living, Inc. is calling on commercial transportation companies and federal, state and local transit authorities to reinstate a mask mandate for travelers and commuters on their transportation systems. A district court judge in Florida lifted the mask mandate on April 19, 2022, which had previously been put in place by the Centers for Disease Control because of the on-going impact of the pandemic, leaving older adults, people with disabilities and other persons at risk of contracting COVID-19.

“When this ruling came down I became very concerned, our main office sits on top of a BART station used daily by our staff, disabled consumers, and many others coming to the Ed Roberts Campus or just passing through. Many of these people may have compromised immune systems. Removing this sensible policy makes transit inaccessible and possibly harmful for our community, especially for those who are at high risk for infection or complications due to COVID-19,” said CIL Executive Director Ted Jackson. 

CIL urges the Bay Area Rapid Transit, AC Transit, Metropolitan Transit Commission,   Federal Transit Authority, East Bay Paratransit and the California Department of Public Health and Alameda Department of Public Health and others to do everything in their power to reinstate mask mandates on public transit. In the meantime, we ask individual community members to continue wearing masks on public transportation. In the future, we ask that public transportation providers do more to protect older adults and people with disabilities from COVID-19.

Jackson continued, “We do not yet know the full extent of the long term effects of COVID-19, or multiple infections, so we must ask our fellow community members and our allies in public transit to protect each other by masking up. The only way to get through this is by working together.”

CIL also asks that East Bay Paratransit reinstate a one-seat ride policy, as well as improve ventilation on East Bay Paratransit vehicles and city transit vehicles, many of which have not been upgraded to the same extent as AC Transit buses.

“When you really get to the core of it, any policy that even suggests it’s OK to let seniors and disabled people risk illness and their lives so that others can have convenience is straight up eugenics. I think it’s important to use the words disability and eugenics in these COVID-19 discussions, because during the pandemic there has been disproportionate recognition of the impact that this disease has had on our community. We shouldn’t have to risk our lives when using transit to go to work, school, shop or have a night out with friends,” said CIL consumer and Berkeley resident Loren Steinberg.

The removal of mask mandates leads to an increase of Coronavirus infections. According to the CDC, “[a]s of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021.” This rise in cases aligns with the lifting of indoor mask mandates in schools.

Data from the Alameda Public Health COVID-19 website shows that there has been a disproportionate amount of infections amongst transportation workers within the Spanish speaking community as well as young adults. AC Transit has faced staff shortages due to COVID-19 infections.

For over 50-years the Center for Independent Living has served disabled people, beginning in Berkeley and growing to all of Northern Alameda County, AC. We provide wrap-around resources, support, services and advocacy for people with disabilities. Emerging out of the disability rights movement catalyzed by students at UC Berkeley in the early 1970’s, activists with disabilities founded The Center for Independent Living, Inc. in 1972. The Center for Independent Living, Inc. is the nation’s first disability rights organization committed to Independent Living organized and operated by persons with disabilities. Our peer-based services model has been replicated by over 400 Independent Living Centers nationwide and in similar programs in 20 countries around the globe.