This Orange County company has gone from making hair look cool to fighting coronavirus

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.

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.

Six months ago, a distillery in Ohio had the idea to start making hand sanitizer on-site, but because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus and the FDA changing regulations, the business has now fast-tracked the idea into reality. With only their first batch ready to donate, the distillery has already received over 1,000 requests for deliveries of the sanitizer.

Although Taiwan and Canada saw the beginning of coronavirus outbreaks within days of each other, Taiwan has been able to better contain the spread. Using tactics such as integrating "its health insurance database with its immigration database" and using the military to help produce protective masks for medical workers, the Taiwanese government's aggressive approach offers lessons in how to use big data and regulations to stem the spread of infectious diseases.

When a hospital in Italy ran the risk of running out of a medical valve that was necessary to help treat patients suffering from COVID-19, an engineering company stepped in to fill the gap by 3D printing the valve. Choosing "patients over patents," the company was able to mass produce 100 valves – at a fraction of the cost of a regular valve – which have already helped at least 10 patients.

As restaurants across the nation have been forced to close their doors during the coronavirus pandemic, some are turning to creative means to help account for the loss of revenue. In Philadelphia, restaurants have created a virtual tip jar to encourage patrons to "donate a tip" to a person or business while in San Francisco a restaurant owner has created a Facebook group that helps connect out of work servers with childcare jobs.

To help mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on some of its most vulnerable populations, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is paying otherwise closed restaurants to make food for short-staffed homeless shelters in the area.

Drive-through coronavirus testing sites aren't just safer for all involved, they're also more efficient. Although the limited exposure to hospital personnel and other patients is critical for slowing the spread, drive-throughs, and walk-up tents also allow for more people to be tested at a faster rate by eliminating barriers such as patient intake.