People look to pool noodles, plastic hug walls and glass dining pods as ways to creatively social distance

Kerry Justich
·Health and Wellness Staff Writer
Updated ·5 min read

Cities around the world are at different stages of dealing with the pandemic. But one thing that universally remains the same is the guidance to maintain a social distance of six feet. And while walking down the street, dining at a restaurant and attending school can make it difficult for people to maintain that distance, many are taking it into their own hands to ensure that they comply with the safety protocol.

For one woman in Paris, this meant attaching a meter-long flap of paper to a hat that she wore while walking around the city. “This is a one-meter hat, please respect the distance,” her writing translates in English according to The Connexion. The 33-year-old YouTuber, Stéphanie, told French publication Le Parisien that she only had the resources to make it one meter instead of a full 6 feet wide. Still, she attracted lots of attention throughout the city and was able to ensure enough distance between herself and others. And she wasn’t the only one to employ a similar tactic.

In fact, a cafe in Germany asked that its customers wear a hat with a measuring device intact. Although a pool noodle isn’t necessarily the accessory you’d think to see someone out at dinner sporting, it does the trick.

The photo from Cafe & Konditorei Rothe was posted just two days after its owners first posted about how far apart each of the tables had to be set in order to comply with social distancing. The hats with pool noodles act as extra reinforcement.

A restaurant in Amsterdam also caught attention from people around the world when it debuted glass dining pods for couples to dine in safely dine-in outdoors.

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”With the current situation it's difficult to open a restaurant with limited space. So why don't we add to our location and create a safe and intimate home for partners to reconnect, with the outside world at their own leisure,” Mediamatic ETEN’s Instagram caption reads.

Video of the restaurant’s service shows that servers are wearing protective shields and delivering plates to tables via a blank board. Naturally, some on social media are calling the tactic going “overboard” while others agree that it’s a clever way to dine.

Different social distancing tactics are also being used at a school in France, where local journalists have posted photos of distanced X’s where the children are meant to sit, squares drawn in chalk outside where children can play and tape signaling where they can go in the classroom.

Lionel Top, a French reporter, quoted a teacher from the school who said, “It makes me sick, you can't imagine.”

Still, in the United States, where the majority of schools have been closed for the remainder of the academic year, some teachers are looking for ways to interact with their students in-person, rather than on Zoom calls. For an elementary teacher in Indiana, this meant creating a plastic barrier with armholes that would allow students to safely hug her.

Shelby Pavelka created the plastic wall with just 12 reusable bags, according to CNN, and even made sure that students disinfected the surface before and after each hug.

Some of these tactics are more practical than others, as one business took to Twitter to share one of its failed attempts at keeping employees protected in the office.

But it seems that people will adapt to making sure that we’re all socializing safely.

Social distancing is a part of our everyday lives. The below experience allows you to place art in the space between. Place the image in front of you and move it around to line up with your loved one.

For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC’s and WHO’s resource guides.

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