Pandemic pivoting: how Malaysia's social enterprises are responding to the Covid-19 crisis

Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have each shown success with slowing the pace of the coronavirus outbreak due in part from learning lessons during the 2002 SARS outbreak. Combining different approaches to social distancing and quarantine, travel restrictions, and public health campaigns focused on hygiene best practices, the countries have shown that it doesn't necessarily take "China’s draconian measures" to mitigate the spread.

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.

As the United States struggles to test all citizens exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus, Australia and Canada are offering lessons about best practices for preparing for a pandemic. Having learned from previous outbreaks, these countries implemented protocols such as a national hotline, easy-access to information about testing sites, and "an agency to coordinate and help finance testing and treatment during any kind of viral or disease outbreak" – all of which help make testing more efficient.

In early January, doctors at UW Medical Center began preparing for a coronavirus outbreak by transforming a research lab into a screening center for coronavirus that delivers results within a day. Now, coupled with a mobile clinic that allows for people to be tested from within the confines of their cars, the city has been able to test a large volume of people more safely than if they were being tested from within a hospital.

Several distilleries across the U.S. are shifting gears from producing beer to instead producing hand sanitizer to play a part in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Combatting the shortage of the product, while also promoting better hygiene, distilleries are experimenting with recipes based on federal and World Health Organization guidelines and giving the product to patrons as well as donating to charities.

As restaurants look at a myriad of ways to enhance the cleanliness of their businesses in light of the coronavirus pandemic, a distillery in North Carolina chose to shift their focus from gin-making to making and distributing hand sanitizer. The owners of the distillery are also training neighboring businesses "how to use the solution responsibly," and then donating bottles of the sanitizer after they complete the session.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, school districts are trying a number of approaches to ensure students still have access to free breakfasts and lunches even though they are not coming to school. In some cities, bus drivers are bringing meals to different neighborhoods. The federal government is also working to transfer what would be spent on school lunches to families in the form of food stamps.

To address those that have been specifically impacted by economic crash due to coronavirus and to slow the spread, cities across the United States are enacting comprehensive measures to help. From a halt on all utility shutoffs to releasing inmates who have nearly completed their sentences or are being held pretrial on cash bail, local governments across the nation are looking for ways to address how the pandemic is impacting the most vulnerable.

Schools have closed across the nation to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but that's left many students without access to meals. To address this, Kanawha County has started to use school buses to transport meals to students, both offering reliable access to meals and eliminating the possibility of spreading the virus by reducing the need for children to stand in lines to receive the meals.

Those over the age of 65 have been instructed to stay at home as much as possible during the coronavirus pandemic, so younger adults are coming together across the nation to help deliver this population essentials. Between Facebook, Nextdoor, and basic spreadsheets, communities are finding ways to provide mutual aid by connecting lower-risk neighbors with their more at-risk neighbors.