One positive thing coming out of the pandemic has been more regional collaboration among New Hampshire’s chambers of commerce, a change that might outlive the coronavirus, according to the heads of seven chambers who spoke last week with the Economic Reopening Task Force.

The chambers have been encouraged by the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs to work together on the distribution of personal protective equipment, employee recruitment, tourism promotion, training and promotion of reopening guidelines Chambers in seven regions — the Merrimack Valley, the Seacoast, the Monadnock Region, the Lakes Region, the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, the Mt. Washington Valley and North Country — are adopting these suggestions in their own way.

“This program jump-started us to collaborate in a way that has not taken place formally,” said Michael Skelton, president of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, the lead agency of the Merrimack Valley chambers of commerce, which includes chambers in Nashua, Salem, Hudson, Derry, Londonderry, Merrimack and Concord. “It’s a brand that will have a shelf life well after this pandemic passes.”

Some chambers have actually merged. That’s what happened to the Keene and Peterborough chambers, which in November announced plans to combine, said Phil Suter, president of the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce. And there are talks now about other southwestern New Hampshire chambers merging to better offer services and to survive the pandemic along with their members, who have had trouble keeping current with their dues.

The chambers are teaming up to provide PPE, either for free or at low cost.

For example, chambers in the North Country, which covers towns from Stratford to Pittsburg, distributed some $128,000 worth of PPE to 600 businesses, some hand-delivered and some via a drive-through, said North Country Chamber of Commerce President Jodi Gilbert.

The Upper Valley Business Alliance, formed in a merger of the Lebanon and Hanover chambers, now leads chambers in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, which also includes Claremont, Newport and the Lake Sunapee Region chamber. The collaborative purchased $45,000 of PPE among its members.

But the chambers are cooperating on more than PPE.

Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee chambers hired consultants to help businesses digitize and move into e-commerce, and help train employers to deal with customers who refuse to wear masks.

Chambers also group together to attract both workers and tourists.

Chambers in the Southwest use a Google Analytics program to target tourists. In the Mt. Washington Valley, a 100-Mile Challenge was created, encouraging tourists to stop at places deemed safe and open.

— BOB SANDERS