Communities looking to quickly create temporary testing facilities, care rooms, drive-thru structures, and protective enclosures are finding solutions in an unexpected place – the trade show and corporate event industry. BeMatrix USA, designer and manufacturer of a modular frame system, has found a new need for its components as requests from its partner companies across North America have dramatically increased in the past weeks in response to COVID-19. "Overnight our business transformed from supporting the live event industry to supporting the medical community," said Tara Ericson, vice president of sales and marketing for BeMatrix.

That's in part because the trade show and events community, which BeMatrix serves, is accustomed to both modular structures and fast-turnaround projects. "This is what exhibit builders do best – create cost-effective architectural solutions, manufacture them, and install them with minimal lead time," said Ericson. For example, Astound Group Inc., a creative agency that designs and produces exhibits and marketing experiences, used the BeMatrix system to create safe screening stations, which have been installed in St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and other Ontario, Canada, hospitals. Instead of taking weeks to build, the modular system allowed Astound to design and build temporary structures within days.

Other exhibit companies have reached out to community leaders, local hospitals, and emergency management agencies – as well as restaurants, drug stores, and grocery stores – to assess what other temporary structures might be needed. Requests have ranged from indoor uses such as registration kiosks with sneeze guards and temporary exam rooms to tented outdoor mobile care units. And with the trade show and events industry at a virtual standstill, these companies can fill those needs immediately. "We never anticipated that our system would be used by the medical community, so it makes us exceptionally proud to see the ingenuity of our partners," Ericson said.

In order to streamline operations and get communities the structures they need as quickly as possible, BeMatrix has created a series of standard solutions for exhibit houses to share with their local community contacts. These include mobile care rooms, homeless shelters, reception seating dividers, and more. "We are here to support our partners as they support their local communities and are ready to assist in designing additional prototypes as needed," Ericson said.