Upstaging Shifts Operations To Assist COVID-19 Fight

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https://www.facebook.com/Upstaging – Upstaging
With live events indefinitely on hold, Chicago-based production and transportation company Upstaging, Inc., is pivoting its substantial resources toward healthcare as the world combats COVID-19. 
Upstaging announced March 24 it will be dedicating 100 truck drivers, lighting, privacy dividers, generators and transformers, and its 150 industry workers toward fighting the pandemic. It will be doing custom fabrication, it will use temporary networking with IT and WiFi Distribution, it will assist in creating emergency signage, and will be providing Plastic Face Shields. 
“Upon  hearing  of  an  impending  shortage  of  hospital  facilities,  we  immediately  pivoted  our  resources  to   provide  additional  capabilities  to  our  nation’s  doctors,  nurses,  and  healthcare  facilities  so  they  may   better  aid  in  the  treatment  of  patients  impacted  by  COVID-­‐19,”  said  Upstaging director John Huddleston. 
The company’s pivot into healthcare follows a call for assistance from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who asked the Army Corps of Engineers to build temporary hospitals to combat the spread of and help treat active cases of COVID-19, as reported by NPR. He called for factories to increase manufacturing of masks, gowns, and ventilators, calling it 
“The essential medical equipment, that’s going to make a difference between life and death.”
Upstaging won Best Production/Transportation Company at the 30th Annual Pollstar Awards in 2019.
Production companies of all sizes have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as all forms of live entertainment in North America have essentially been shut down. A petition on Change.org advocating for the needs of event industry workers and companies led to the formation of the Live Events Coalition, whose purpose is to lobby the president and congress to create a task force to “rescue the industry in the face of total collapse.” 
Pollstar has published a number of testimonials from production and event professionals affected by the COVID-19 prompted shutdown.