Beating the coronavirus with knives, forks, and moving tables

The city of Honolulu has partnered with hotels to offer quarantine housing for those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 but have nowhere to safely self-isolate. The new units compliment other existing facilities – such as city-owned buildings and hospitals – and provide meals and health check-ins for the patients conducted by the state's Behavioral Health and Homelessness Statewide Unified Response Group.

Across England and Wales, over 5,000 individuals experiencing homelessness have found temporary accommodations in hotels. Paid for by the government as part of it’s COVID-19 relief efforts, hotels are working with social services to help provide housing, food, and other basic necessities to those going through housing insecurity. Not without challenges, the initiative has seen zero deaths from the pandemic but those working to help this initiative worry about the long-term.

In Minnesota, cross-sector collaboration, contact tracing, and a focus on adhering to public health safety protocols have helped Cook County avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, despite being a tourist destination. Local health officials and industry leaders presented a united front, while residents and business owners focused on ways to "keep the tourists from infecting the locals." With only seven residents contracting the virus by summer's end, the efforts appear to have been successful.

In Montana, a handful of manufacturers have adapted their facilities to make products and materials that help healthcare workers safely work on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic. From face shields to liquid transport mediums, these businesses are finding new ways to play a larger role in the efforts to contain the virus, while also keeping their employees working.

As the U.S attempts to reopen, restaurant owners from California to Florida are expanding their restaurants into nearby outdoor space, including sidewalks and parking lots. In doing so, they are able to offer patrons a safer dining environment, as there is more room to keep tables further apart and follow social distancing precautions, and it also helps restaurants earn more revenue than if they were limited to indoor space. Some city governments are streamlining the process, including Brookhaven, Georgia, which made it free to access short-term permits for outdoor dining.

In Los Angeles, a government-sanctioned camp has been developed for individuals experiencing housing insecurity. The camp, with around-the-clock security, offers residents water, meals, health care, and electrical outlets. While more have popped up as a response to slowing the spread of COVID-19 among those living on the streets, there have been arguments made for keeping them as a step toward more secure housing for individuals.

Around the world, sporting leagues have had to cancel or postpone their games as a response to COVID-19, but in select countries, they’re showing the world how to – safely – resume games. Taiwan’s basketball and baseball leagues and South Korea’s baseball and soccer leagues have started playing again. They’ve put into place measures like banning all fans from in-person viewing and taking regular temperature checks for players and coaches. While being careful, the physical nature of sports still presents challenges.

Feed the Frontlines Boulder is one initiative of several across the state of Colorado that are working to support healthcare workers and restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individual donors and local nonprofits donate money for restaurants to produce warm meals for medical professionals at work. The meals serve as an appreciative gesture towards those on the front line and helps restaurants keep their employees working, use their supplies, and have a source of income. Feed the Frontlines started on March 30th and has since delivered over 2,500 meals made by nine local restaurants.

With restaurants closing and people panic-buying groceries, food waste is inevitably going to rise. There are many initiatives going on throughout the United States to address this very issue. For example, nonprofit Rethink in New York City pays restaurant staff to create meals out of the surplus ingredients that other restaurants have, which are then sold to the public with a $3 donation. For individuals, there are even ways to shift your behavior with preserving and consuming the food you buy that will allow them to last longer and be eaten in entirety.

The music industry has been uniquely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, as described by the co-owner of a boutique music venue in Lake Orion who says, "We were the first to close and will be the last to re-open." To adapt to the constraints of the pandemic and generate revenue, artists and businesses have turned to livestreaming performances and partnering with entities such as the Downtown Development Authority and a local hotel to host concerts that respect the social distancing guidelines.