New York-based EverBlock Systems LLC was temporarily sidelined by the coronavirus like everyone else in the trade show and event industry, but it didn't stay there long. The manufacturer and provider of modular building systems began working with Louisiana's response team to provide thousands of modular wall panels and building blocks – think Legos the size of cinder blocks – to be used in building a temporary pop-up hospital facility in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The convention center needed to prepare more than 2,000 patient pods and 130 modular nursing stations to help medical staff at the venue care for patients recovering from the coronavirus, which in turn would provide much needed relief to area hospitals.

Sleeping pods, isolation units, nursing stations, bed areas, testing sites, and more were built throughout the convention center using the durable building blocks, as well as EverPanel modular sanitary divider walls. "We understood early on what would be needed to safely mitigate the spread of this global disease, and that our nonporous, easily sanitized building blocks and wall panels would be the best solution for building temporary hospitals and medical facilities for patients in recovery of COVID-19, or to provide isolation to stop the spread," said Arnon Rosan, EverBlock's president and CEO.

EverBlock responded to the call to deploy equipment and personnel within a few days. "Our team really came together during a tough time to deliver truckloads of product more quickly than ever before," Rosan said. "It's been quite a challenge, but we're proud of the work our team did to respond and of our valuable supply chain partners, who stepped up by providing raw materials during difficult and unpredictable times."

The demand for components hasn't let up. EverBlock has hired an additional 10 new staff members at its warehouse in New York to help keep up with demand as equipment continues to roll off the manufacturing line and onto trucks bound for New Orleans. And the company is working to anticipate the next surge locations and coordinate with those areas' decision makers.