Boston high rise condos, elevators, and COVID-19. Less also throw in elevator etiquette
Andreas Bernard, a professor of cultural studies at Germany’s Leuphana University once said:
Elevators are the epicenter of urban density
Why am I blogging about elevators? Well, today I was on an elevator, hopefully, the last one for a while.
I must say, of all the stressful spaces in a coronavirus-stricken era, elevators are among the most fraught. All but the fanciest Boston high rise condos require touching germy surfaces to operate and present the risk of other people sneezing at any time. Even empty cars can harbor Covid-19 pathogens: A recent model of a hypothetical elevator ride showed that viral droplets can linger in the air well after an infected person exits.
The problem if you must ride in an elevator, what if others are not wearing masks. Do you get off if mask-free riders insist onboarding, or do you support the Larry David approach in overturning longstanding elevator etiquette: “Most Larry David-etiquette change. In this new COVID-19 era, will it be perfectly acceptable to close the elevator doors in other people’s faces when you are the only person in the elevator and there not wearing a mask? I don’t think I can do that.
My alternative I could take the stairs. But that didn’t work out so well for the Mad Men after a few afternoon cocktails.