DO:

• Wear it whenever going out in public

• Make sure it covers your nose and mouth

• Wash after using

DON’T:

• Use if under two years old

•Use surgical masks or other PPE intended for healthcare workers

https://bit.ly/FaceClothFAQ

April 7, 2020

ATLANTA — District 3 Atlanta City Council member Antonio Brown has established a weekly meal distribution consisting of more than 15,000 meals aimed at helping Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hosea Feed the Hungry, Safe House Outreach, and Chris 180, among others. In addition, 19 senior assisted living facilities will be serviced through a weekly meal distribution that includes breakfast, lunch, and protein boxes.

Today is the first day of the distribution. Weekly distribution times and locations are subject to change.

“We are facing a critical moment in our community,” Brown said. “This was organized to provide support to those in need. We want to help ensure as many people as possible are safe and have access to services. The ability to have food and good nutrition is crucial to maintaining your physical and mental well-being in times of stress. I’m really grateful to able to support this effort.”

Transportation is being coordinated by A-National Limousine and owner Darrell Anderson.

“The A-National Limousine Service Family is honored to be working with Council member Antonio Brown and other volunteers to help provide meals for our most vulnerable and valued citizens – our seniors,” Anderson said.

This effort was initially established by a philanthropic group that worked to help save more than 900 jobs at Gateway Gourmet, a company that provides boxed meals for the airlines. The organization was preparing to lay off workers due to services being reduced because of the lack of travel. Through this work and Brown’s partnership with the group, a relationship has been established to distribute boxed meals provided by Gateway Gourmet to residents in Atlanta.

April 10, 2020

Dear MARTA Stakeholder,

I wanted to share several updates regarding MARTA and COVID-19.

• Employee Protection Measures: Today MARTA announced an agreement with ATU 732 granting all employees an additional 80 hours of Emergency Sick Paid Leave. See news release attached for details. In response to the updated CDC guidelines, masks will be distributed to all employees not able to work from home starting Friday, 4/10. We continue to discuss and evaluate hazard pay for MARTA frontline employees. 

• Crowding on Buses: Bus operators have received notice of our protocol to alert the Bus Communications Center when the bus reaches 50% capacity and to not board additional customers when the bus is 70% full and to display the BUS FULL header (see attached memo from 4/1/2020). Starting Friday 4/10, customers will be able to call 404-848-5000 and follow the menu options to report a full bus directly to Bus Communications so that an additional bus can be dispatched. Starting Monday, 4/13 placards will be added to 50% bus seats to help enforce social distancing (see also attached).

• Service Levels: Ridership levels have dropped dramatically.  Rail is down by 77% and Bus is down by 42%. MARTA continues to review service levels and make adjustments to provide necessary service for essential trips while protecting employees and customers. MARTA Mobility (paratransit) continues to operate as usual.

• Cleaning Schedules: MARTA service generally operates 20 hours/day. Just because a customer, employee or member of the media does not observe it happening doesn’t mean that it’s not. You can see and share videos of our enhanced bus cleaning and rail cleaning. 

• Diagnosed Employees: As of today, we have 14 employees who have self-reported a positive COVID-19 diagnosis and 183 employees off work due to risk of exposure. Updated information on diagnosed and exposed employees can be found at our online dashboard: www.itsmarta.com/covid-19-public-info.aspx

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need more information.

Erica Pines

Senior Director

Office of Stakeholder and Public Engagement

The State of Georgia has joined forces with @CVSHealth to increase access to rapid #COVID19 testing. @GeorgiaTech‘s campus is hosting a no-cost, drive-in, rapid testing location which will be able to conduct up to 1,000 tests per day. Appointment details: http://c.gatech.edu/3aZjpKZ

For the safety of our solid waste team, all items must fit into the appropriate cart. All household trash must be in plastic bags and may not be placed loosely inside a trash cart. If an item is too large to fit into a trash cart, you must schedule a bulk collection. If it doesn’t fit, schedule it! All recycling must be loose, clean and fit inside your recycling cart. If you suspect your solid waste has been exposed to COVID-19, notify ATL311. While these changes are unique, all your collection schedules remain the same. For questions, visit www.atlantaga.gov/solidwaste, or contact ATL311.

COVID-19 in Georgia: Supporting People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Join Us for An Online Session to Share Your COVID-19 Challenges and Tell Us the Impact of COVID-19 on the

Georgia Disability Community. 

Tuesdays Beginning April 7th | 3:00 – 4:30 PM

Register Today!

The Georgia Developmental Disabilities Network and Partnering Organizations are launching a weekly community call to address issues and concerns related to COVID-19. The goal of these weekly forums is to receive and provide guidance and resources to the people we support across the state. Together we can tune into a clear signal of facts and resources that stands out from the overwhelming noise of social media, email and 24-hour news outlets. 

We hope to accomplish several things:

·    Provide a listening session to hear feedback on needs and wants regarding COVID-19 info and specific resources

·    Crowdsource existing resources to share via a clearinghouse page

·    Collect ideas and gauge where to focus our collective energy on new resources or advocacy efforts

————————————————————————————————Who can participate in this listening session?

People with disabilities and their family members

Service providers

Policymakers

State and Federal human and social services agency leaders

Media professionals and journalists

Zoom Details: You are invited to a Zoom meeting. 

When: Apr 7, 2020 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uZclf-2hrTIiLbLgZfbAug2E8EM0jxZV8w

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

A maximum of 300 people can participate and registration is required. ASL/CART services are provided for all sessions. All sessions will be recorded and will be available for viewing on the following the day.

This web series is brought to you by the Georgia Developmental Disabilities Network

From our friends over at Safe Routes.

Congress has passed three different pieces of legislation to help address the wide-ranging impact of Coronavirus. Several components of those new laws can help nonprofits survive and hopefully retain employees during this time of great challenges.

While we at Safe Routes Partnership are not legal or financial experts, we do follow Congressional action closely. We thought it would be helpful to round up what we see as the most important options for nonprofits in the Safe Routes space looking for ways to stay solvent and keep their staff.

Please read the attached newsletter for more information.

In mailboxes this week!

DO NOT throw away this ballot when it arrives in the mail.

APPLICATION FOR OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOT

Due to the Public Health Emergency brought on by Covid- 19, opportunities to vote in person in the upcoming primary election may be limited. To promote the safety and voting access of all Georgians, the Secretary Of State is taking the unprecedented step of sending Absentee Ballot Applications to all voters for the May 19, 2020 Primary.

Please see the included graphic for information on testing.