Montana Manufacturers' New Products, Markets Could Have Lasting Impact Post-Pandemic

A tension fabric structures manufacturing company in Maine has repurposed their facility and transformed their local workforce to create grade-one medical masks for the local hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because the company uses only U.S.-made materials, they have been able to avoid supply chain interruptions and now plans to continue making masks as part of their standard business model even after the pandemic passes.

To save dozens of restaurants in San Francisco during the coronavirus lockdowns, a restaurant owner launched an organization that "provides monthly contracts to its restaurant partners to cook meals for underserved populations." The organization, which has 160 restaurant partners so far, helps fill the gaps left by the government-funded Paycheck Protection Program.

Thousands of people in Wuhan, China are volunteering to buy groceries, get medicine, and take community members to the hospital as a means to help those that need it during the coronavirus outbreak. Although the volunteers do not knowingly transport anyone diagnosed with coronavirus, the drivers wear protective clothing during their drives, which are organized by local neighborhood committees.

In New York, restaurateurs who have struggled to stay open amid the coronavirus pandemic are partnering with drag performers who have lost work due to the pandemic to offer patrons a new dining experience while also trying to increase business. The dining performances are offered outdoors and some restaurant owners are hoping to continue the partnership even after COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

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.

To help deliver hand sanitzer to those who need it during the coronavirus pandemic, a distillery owner in Vermont and a lacrosse equipment online distributor in New Hampshire formed a partnership to create a distribution system. With the distillery the making hand santizer and the lacrosse equipment distributor handling the packaging and shipping, the collaboration has allowed for the sanitzer to reach more of the general public at a faster rate.

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.

Across the United States, restaurants have been forced to close their dine-in services due to the coronavirus, but many have switched to online order and to-go options in order to stay open. Now, some of these restaurants are offering grocery orders as well, helping customers access ingredients that may be sold at local supermarkets.

Businesses in the Four Corners region of the United States have shifted their production from outdoor equipment to medical equipment and have successfully solicited people from the community to help. Although the businesses don't necessarily have the capacity or facilities available to prevent medical-grade equipment and have had to rethink how their production regimes work, they have been able to make at-home protective equipment and items such as hospital gowns.

In Los Angeles, fashion industry professionals are working together to create hospital gowns from donated materials for use in hospitals. The project is also helping to employ those who have been laid off from their retail jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.