COVID-19 Resources

“And one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The King Center is committed to ensuring that, as humanity grapples with a global pandemic, we are all informed about ways we can be safe, compassionate and just in this time of crisis. With humanity in mind, our CEO, Dr. Bernice A. King, serves as co-chair for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s Coronavirus Task Force Community Outreach Committee. Her goal and the overall goal of The King Center is to contribute to caring for the people of metro Atlanta, of Georgia, and within our “World House” during this extremely difficult time.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together…” Our goal is to provide resources that remind us that we are interconnected and that, especially in this critical hour in history, we can engage each other with services and tools for living together.

Here are some helpful resources to access so that you and your loved ones can stay informed and safe:

ATLSTRONG
Stay up to date on what’s going on in Atlanta and sign up for text updates.

Georgia Department of Public Health
Get information from Georgia’s official COVID-19 response team and call the hotline if you think you have symptoms.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay up to date on the national response and take the Self Checker if you think you need medical care.

World Health Organization
Get information on the global effort to combat COVID-19.

Beloved Community Talks
We must not forget about our mental health during this crisis. We invite you to join us for a series of Beloved Community Talks conversations where we will discuss how we use this moment in time to explore new ways of interaction and how we come together as a community today and prayerfully, beyond this pandemic crisis. We are streaming live on Facebook every Tuesday at 7pm EST. We invite you to ask questions in the comments.

Together, we will power through our fears and master our collective destiny for a better world.

Information about COVID-19 and the Minority Community 
Recent data from the Center for Disease Control reveals that the COVID-19 crisis has placed a “disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups.” Although the effects of COVID-19, particularly on Black, Brown and Native communities, seems insurmountable, we believe that nonviolence, as Dr. King taught and engaged it, can help us change the underlying inequities that contribute to the heightened negative impact that COVID-19 is having on marginalized communities.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many participants in and leaders of the modern Civil Rights Movement in America utilized nonviolence to challenge injustice and inequality and to propose solutions that respect the dignity of every human being. While those campaigns focused on public desegregation and voting rights, nonviolence, as a philosophy and strategy, has utility beyond Civil Rights. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time.” In being “the answer,” nonviolence includes principles and steps for social change.

The first step of nonviolence is Information Gathering. Below is a list of information and resources related to COVID-19:

National Medical Association

• Press release on COVID and black communities
• Joint Statement on the Public Health Strategy (published in partnership with Rainbow PUSH.).

American Medical Association

• Throughout the COVID-19  pandemic, the American Medical Associate is carefully compiling  critical health equity  resources from across the web  to shine a light on the structural issues that contribute to and could exacerbate already existing inequities. View AMA resources here.

Information about COVID-19

• Map of Coronavirus cases worldwide (Johns Hopkins University)
• National Medical Association Resources on COVID-19

For Individuals (CDC )

• How to protect yourself and others
• Using cloth face coverings
• People who should take extra precautions
• How COVID-19 spreads
• Symptoms and complications
• If you get sick
• Caring for someone at home
• Daily life: planning, preparing, coping
• Share the facts, not fear
• Information for travelers
• Why wear a facemask (video)
• How Soap Kills the Coronoavirus (video)
• How to slow the spread of COVID-19 (video)

Individuals
United Way 211
If you need assistance finding food, paying housing bills, accessing free childcare, or other essential services, dial 211 to speak to someone at the United Way who can help.

How to File an Unemployment Claim
The Department of Labor provides information on how to file a claim.  Claim submission varies by state.