Pummeled by the Pandemic, Hotel Owners Get Creative With Their Space

Although the future is unknown, for the time being, South Korea has largely contained the coronavirus pandemic by enacting a comprehensive response. Acting swiftly and aggressively, the country moved to initiate widespread testing, tracing and mapping of potential carriers, and a public information campaign to slow the spread.

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.

Restaurants in Providence, Rhode Island are "repurposing parking lots, waterfronts, and any adjacent land where an al fresco meal can be savored, public health preserved, and restaurant profits protected" during the coronavirus pandemic. Collaborative efforts by various elected officials, health officials, and emergency responders are making the idea to repurpose outdoor areas feasible, and some restaurants have already projected a significant success in profits.

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.

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.

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.

Leaders from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Port Angeles School District had a vision of creating a go-between space for students while school buildings were closed. Within the span of a month, this small community managed to create one.

West Virginia relied on strategic partnerships, collaboration, and efficient use of medicine to successfully outpace every other state in the U.S. in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Rather than turning to nationally-run chain pharmacies to disseminate the vaccine, the state partnered with local pharmacies to better reach long-term care facilities and collaborated with the West Virginia National Guard to overcome logistical barriers.

West Virginia managed to deliver approximately 90% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to the state within a week by "charting its own path to vaccine distribution." Rather than rely on chain stores as part of the vaccination plan every other state has done, the West Virginia government partnered with local pharmacies who were already serving rural populations and long-term care facilities to piggyback off of those already-established relationships.