As countries and local governments begin cautious steps toward reopening the parts of society that have been shut down by the coronavirus outbreak, various types of barriers are going up in places where people interact regularly. Schools, restaurants, workplaces, and shops have installed plexiglass shields and plastic curtains, tents, and screens as measures to prevent the spread of the virus, leading to a new social landscape of clear-plastic barriers. Some nursing homes have been using chambers with plastic walls that keep visitors separate, yet allow much-needed contact. Collected below, from recent weeks, some views of our new plastic-separated world.
Socializing in a Pandemic, Protected by Plastic
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Olivia Grant (right) hugs Mary Grace Sileo, her grandmother, through a plastic drop cloth hung up on a homemade clothesline on May 24, 2020, in Wantagh, New York. It is the first time they have had contact of any kind since the coronavirus lockdown started in late February. #
Al Bello / Getty -
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A woman visits her husband at a retirement home in Bourbourg, France, where a double-entry bubble has been installed to allow visits without risk of contamination, on May 25, 2020. (1 of 2) #
Denis Charlet / AFP / Getty -
An elderly woman is escorted out of a tent after receiving a visit from a relative, on May 25, 2020, at a retirement home in Bourbourg, France. Relatives and residents each enter the tent through a different entrance to find themselves in the same room, separated by a transparent plastic canvas. (2 of 2) #
Denis Charlet / AFP / Getty -
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A child wears a protective shield as he spends the afternoon at Rama IX Park, after the Thai government eased isolation measures in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 17, 2020. #
Jorge Silva / Reuters -
Robbie McDonald (left), on the guitar, and Dennis Turner (right), on the bass, take part in a social-distancing sound check with Frederic Yonnet (out of frame), a jazz-harmonica player, in Washington, D.C., on May 3, 2020. They live-streamed a concert on Yonnet's Instagram and Facebook accounts. Every Sunday, in a half-remodeled house and surrounded by plastic to maintain social distancing, Yonnet and his four-piece band entertain residents and curious onlookers strolling through Washington's colorful Capitol Hill neighborhood. In Yonnet's opinion, the virus has created a dark, gloomy atmosphere binding everyone together. But music can have a "healing" effect. "Music is a universal language that everyone can understand," he said. "It's the opposite of the virus." #
Eva Hambach / AFP / Getty -
A tailor at Suitsupply in Rotterdam, Netherlands, pins a customer's suit through a plexiglass screen with holes to allow hands through, as a protective measure against the spread of the coronavirus. #
Robin Utrecht / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media / Getty -
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Farm laborers from Fresh Harvest collect romaine lettuce alongside a machine with heavy plastic dividers that separate workers from one another, on April 27, 2020, in Greenfield, California. Fresh Harvest is implementing strict health and safety initiatives for its workers during the coronavirus pandemic and is trying a number of new techniques to enhance safety in the field. #
Brent Stirton / Getty -
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People have lunch at the Penguin Eat Shabu hotpot restaurant, which reopened after the easing of restrictions with new plastic barriers and social-distancing measures, in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 8, 2020. #
Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters -
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Phuc An, a newborn baby wearing a protective face shield, is seen before leaving home for his vaccination, during the coronavirus outbreak in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 13, 2020. #
Nguyen Huy Kham / Reuters -
People sitting in separate plexiglass cubicles react as they bid for flowers during an auction inside the Multiflora warehouse in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 8, 2020. #
Phill Magakoe / AFP / Getty -
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Kelsey Pavelka, a teacher, waves through the "Quarantine Hugs Station," a plastic barrier constructed at her front door, to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, in Muncie, Indiana, on May 6, 2020. #
S.Pavelka and K.Pavelka via Reuters -
A member of India's Central Industrial Security Force checks a passenger's ID through a glass shield after the government allowed domestic flight services to resume, at Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi, India, on May 25, 2020. #
Adnan Abidi / Reuters -
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Workers wearing protective gear carry the plastic-wrapped coffin of a man who died from suspected complications of the coronavirus into the crematorium oven at San Cristóbal Mausoleum in Ecatepec, Mexico State, part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, on May 21, 2020. #
Rebecca Blackwell / AP -
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Carmen Castellanos, 54, wears a face mask and face shield as she stands behind a protective sheet of plastic hanging over the counter at El Foquito, the hardware and electric-supply store she owns with her brother, in the Benito Juarez district of Mexico City, Mexico, on April 15, 2020. #
Rebecca Blackwell / AP -
People wearing face shields enjoy drinks and food at a Japanese izakaya pub in Osaka, Japan, on May 25, 2020, after the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency in Tokyo and the remaining five areas still under alert at that time. #
KYODO / Reuters -
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Waitresses wearing protective masks, face shields, and gloves perform a cheer for customers at a cheerleader-themed restaurant, called Cheers One, in Tokyo, Japan, on May 11, 2020. #
Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters -
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