One day this will all be over. With vaccines going into arms as we speak and new alternatives arriving from just-approved sources, it’s not that unrealistic to see a day in the near-ish future when we’ll be able to see friends again, to go out to theaters and rock-and-roll shows, to have the freedom to travel, throw a party, or just quaff a beverage at the tavern.
Along with this, it’s easy to predict “after times” celebratory events that ritualistically destroy the physical reminders of the year+ we’ve all lived in some level of coronavirus lockdown. Mass bonfires of face masks seem like the most obvious expression, but outworn sweatpants and pajamas, abandoned first novels and knitting projects are likely targets in the same group exorcism.
The collective scar on the nation’s forehead signifying the half a million (and counting) human lives lost will not be forgotten any time soon–nor should it. The shuttered storefronts of businesses of both the mom & pop and big box varieties will ultimately be rented to new merchants, but unswept sidewalks under For Lease signs will be with us for a while.
One of the most obvious visual elements of the coronavirus pandemic is the stencils applied to sidewalks, stickers on retail floors, and makeshift duct tape delineations to mark pedestrian traffic flow and spaced six-foot waiting points. These ubiquitous graphic additions to the landscape all popped up overnight early in the pandemic and then seemed frozen in time after this single application.
Despite the obvious advertisement for the incredible adhesive tenacity to survive a very snowy Pittsburgh winter, these markers are, by definition, temporary. When bars and restaurants are allowed to open at full capacity and mask orders are finally lifted, shop stewards will peel back the big round decals and scrape off the gaffer’s tape once and for all. [Pro tip: forget GameStop–invest in Goo Gone now!]
It is this moment when historians should be alert to these soon-to-disappear markers of a time we think we’ll never forget. Fear not: we will. Humans have famously lousy memory and we’re hardwired to move onto the next thing. Your author has been laughed-at for still using a five-year-old iPhone–you think this society is going to be thinking about six-foot distance markers in a few years? A new generation of Covid deniers will inevitably force the narrative that the whole thing was a collective fever dream. Heck, in ten years we’ll probably have no one left that can still bake sourdough bread.
When Orbit readers Alyssa Cammarata Chance and Michele Timon submitted photos of some of the big round floor decals we see all over, we first scoffed at these as “corporate coronavirus.” No, they’re neither as creative or interesting as original stencils, nor as randomly oddball as the tape directives. But with a little reflection and a whole lot more re-examination, they make for their own unique experience worth documenting. We’ve included the best of them here.
Special thanks to The Orbit’s co-executive assistant to the mailroom intern Lee Floyd for suggesting this fascinating topic.
If you’ve got some good photos of six-foot separator markers–or anything that speaks to the last year in lockdown–let us know and maybe we can include it in a follow-up story.
Pittsburgh Orbit 
Good stuff, Wills… I can’t wait until this virus is “Washed Up!”
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We’re they entirely necessary? And how much of it was for the greater good compared to government control? Do we really need signs telling us how much is six feet? Do we need signs in restrooms telling us exactly how to wash our hands? Or arrows pointing to hand sanitizer dispenser stations? I will never forget. Because it is the worst time of my generation’s adult lives. And not because of the virus. And I hope you’re right that is will someday be totally behind us. I have serious doubts. Especially living in Pennsylvania.
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Tony, Interesting thoughts–there’s a lot in there!
Were the six-foot markers totally necessary? From this *non*-authority’s point-of-view, probably not, but I’d argue they were good reminders in the early days that the pandemic was (and still *is*) for real and were good for getting people used to watching our behavior as long as we’re still in it.
Is it government control? I’m pretty sure the government didn’t have anything to do with Condado Tacos buying custom stickers to put down on their sidewalk or Hambone’s taping arrows on the bricks out front.
Do we need signs in restrooms telling us exactly how to wash our hands? If you’ve been in any public men’s rooms, you know how often men don’t wash their hands *at all*–so maybe a little encouragement for the benefits of hand-washing wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
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