Within the early days of the Covid pandemic, public well being specialists introduced that sustaining a distance of six ft between your self and different individuals would assist forestall the unfold of the virus. Seemingly in a single day, stickers started to appear on the flooring of grocery shops, put up workplaces, pharmacies, and different public areas, in addition to the sidewalks in entrance of them. Positioned six ft aside, they helped us navigate the directive to distance ourselves, indicating the place we should always stand to be secure.
Lots of the stickers have been cheerfully coloured and most bore phrases of instruction: Stand right here. Keep your distance. Cease the unfold. Others have been extra well mannered, including pleases and thank-yous. Some marketed merchandise. Others merely stated, “Keep secure.”
Some store homeowners selected to forgo the stickers in favor of a personalized method. Typically this was only a massive duct-taped X or a spray-painted pair of footwear wherein you positioned your ft like items in a jigsaw puzzle.
At any time when we ventured out of the home in these first darkish months, we took our locations on these dots with a mix of annoyance and concern: Is the individual in entrance of me going to get the final roll of paper towels? Am I being uncovered? Is standing right here definitely worth the threat of dreadful illness or worse?
4 years later, the necessity for social distancing has receded, however the markers — now tattered — function a reminder of that surreal time after we struggled to guard ourselves, collectively but in isolation, from an invisible enemy.
Sara Barrett is a senior picture editor in Opinion.
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