‘There Will Be Enough for Everyone': Berlin Distributes €500 Million to Artists and Freelancers Within Four Days of Launching Its Grant Program

For many jobs across the country, working from home is a fairly easy adaptation to cope with social distancing measures. But for many scientists who work in laboratories with ongoing research, a work from home solution does not quite fit. Labs and universities are finding ways to adapt and prioritize which experiments to put on hold.

As colleges and universities across the United States have shifted to online classes and shut down their campuses, not every student simply has the ability to move home. To help support these students, many of whom are low-income or international, the Stay Together Appalachian Youth Project began working with local communities to find housing for displaced students, as well as to provide other support like money or supplies.

Grocery stores across the United States frantically respond to the "panic buying" brought on by fear of the coronavirus quarantine. As Americans rapidly stock up on supplies, grocery stores expand their network of suppliers, working with farmers, restaurant distributors, and others to find creative solutions to the bottleneck problem of keeping food and goods on their shelves.

By running a network of 3-D printers, universities like USC and UCLA Extension, as well as volunteer firms and nonprofits mobilize their resources to create backup masks. The masks are more effective than basic disposable surgical masks, and serve as reserves for hospitals in the region. The network operates with the assistance of the Los Angeles Mayor’s office.

After an initial shock to business-as-usual, some independent booksellers are trying new methods to get their products in the hands of readers. Home deliveries, online sales, and fundraising efforts are keeping some longstanding institutions afloat, at least for now.

A D.C.-area nonprofit that normally links refugee and immigrant chefs with paid internships at local restaurants has pivoted to directly paying those chefs to produce meals to donate across the DMV area for COVID-19 relief. Using a GoFundMe page that has so far raised almost $9,000, Tables without Borders has begun paying chefs $25 an hour to make 250 meals inspired by where they come from. The program is still in its early stages, but so far they have donated meals to Howard University Hospital night-shift workers, a homeless shelter in Arlington, and a nonprofit that works with Latin American immigrants.

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.

To replace lost business and keep their employees on staff, Tasmanian businesses quickly diversified into new product lines to meet COVID-19-related demand. A camera accessories firm that saw nearly all of its sales to the film and TV industries dry up became a manufacturer of face shields. A plastic manufacturer increased its business by turning out acrylic counter-top protective screens. And a whiskey distillery began producing 2,000 liters of hand sanitizer per week.

The Lee Initiative, Beam Suntory, and Pernod Ricard are three brand-sponsored initiatives that have provided meals and essential goods to cooks, servers, hosts, bussers, and bartenders that are out of jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The organizations partner with local restaurants to provide meals and goods to those in need on specific days and times each week. The programs have reached many in an industry that was hard hit by the shutdown. The Lee Initiative has provided more than 9,000 meals nationwide and Beam Suntory’s Shift Meals program has served about 10,000 meals nationwide.

The CARES Act was meant to help small businesses, including hospitals, find financial stability during the coronavirus pandemic, but confusing guidelines and a lack of oversight have impeded the success. This reality has been especially difficult for rural hospitals, some of which "have left millions in relief aid untouched, spiraling deeper into debt for fear that the wrong decision could force them to return money."