NEW YORK—If nothing else, living through this pandemic has forced all of us to learn how to adapt. Many of us have shifted our habits to bend to the constrictions imposed by COVID-19: working from home, shopping and socializing online, home schooling our children, worrying about our health, our jobs, our finances, and ultimately, what the future might hold—all while trying to keep our sanity in this very surreal time.

But isn’t it amazing how resourceful we’ve become. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention. Last week, our lens and tech editor Andy Karp wrote a feature, The Fog Is Starting to Lift about a very common problem arising from the pandemic—our glasses tend to fog up when we wear a face mask and venture outside. Of course, being the lens editor, Andy had a solution—Cat Crap, a wax-like product from a company called EK USA that you apply to eyeglass lenses to prevent them from fogging up.

The story, viewed more than 2,100 times by last count, has remained in our Most Read Stories category for a full week. It seems our audience is hungry for problem solving skills, which got our editorial staff thinking. That’s why we have come up with a new department called Problem:Solved—we want to hear how you are overcoming obstacles and challenges in your business.

This week, as many ECPs began to open their businesses across the country, retailers and ODs faced many challenges and have had to get creative in order to keep their employees and patients safe in this new environment. How have you have handled these changes.

• What steps have you taken to sanitize your workplace?
• How has your staff reacted to implementing the changes?
• Are people comfortable returning to work?
• How are your patients/customers reacting to the “new normal” at your practice? In short, what problems have you encountered and how have you solved them?

Feel free to send us a video or email, explaining your problem and the solutions you came up with. We’d love to hear your stories and share them with our readers. Email Mary Kane at mkane@jobson.com or Andrew Karp at akarp@jobson.com. And watch this space for more problem-solving techniques as we begin to share people’s experiences as they restart their businesses.