Open & shut masks, dummy diners & protective embrace: How the world is playing safe & sound with Covid-19

If necessity is the mother of invention, the necessity born of the coronavirus pandemic seems to be a super mom of innovation. Even as establishments and individuals the world over are contributing their mite to making life in the time of Covid-19 a little more liveable, an Israeli has come up with a facial covering that allows eating and drinking.

A tiny lever on the exterior opens and shuts a slit in the mask, permitting the intake of refreshment, though the inventor admits that the process might get ‘messy’ if it involves gooey preparations. To make dining out a more companionable experience, a brasserie in Washington DC seats life-size mannequins at tables adjacent to those of patrons so as to create an ambience of social proximity sans infection.

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In a stratagem to get up close and personal with her mom on Mother’s Day, a Canadian devised a ‘hug glove’, a large sheet of plastic to which are attached two sets of sleeves that enable sharers to embrace each other without direct bodily contact. Copycat imitators could make a local variant a profitable line of merchandise in India where such wraparound demonstrations of affection between family members and close friends have long been a traditional practice. As a marketing slogan for a desi version of such an item, ‘Jhapphi without jeopardy’ would, quite literally, be a clincher.

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