Last Friday, in a restroom at Newark Airport, I came across a phrase I hadn’t seen in a long time. stop the spread. It came with an automatic hand sanitizing station, but when I ran my hand under it it made a weak groaning sound and nothing came out. The sign and dispenser, likely installed early in the pandemic, had long since become a relic. Basically everyone seemed to ignore it. Elsewhere in the terminal, I found the following prompt: keep a safe distance and reduce overcrowdingMeanwhile, passengers without masks sat elbow-to-elbow in the waiting room and rioted at the gate.
Since the beginning of 2020, new coronavirus signs and equipment have been seen everywhere. The stickers showed how to stand 6 feet apart. Arrows on the grocery store floor guided shopping cart traffic. Plastic barriers enforced distancing. Mask required Signs were placed dotted in store windows, but were eventually replaced with milder language that read: Mask recommended and Masks welcome. Messages like these have become an inescapable part of navigating life through the pandemic.
Four years later, the coronavirus hasn’t gone away. But the health measures are gone, and so are the everyday concerns about the pandemic. However, many of the symptoms of this coronavirus remain and are impossible to miss, even if the messages are ignored or become outdated. In New York, where I live, there are signs posted at the entrances and exits of apartments and stores. A colleague in Woburn, Massachusetts, sent me a photo of a sign reminding parkgoers to gather in groups of no more than 10 people. Another person in Washington, D.C., showed me faded stickers on the floors of bookstores and piers reminding people to stay 6 feet apart. “These are products of another moment in time that none of us want to go back to,” says New York University sociologist and author of 2020: One city, seven people, and the year that changed everything., he told me. All these flyers, signs, and stickers constitute the “ghost architecture” of the pandemic, and they still haunt America.
It makes sense that some coronavirus signs are still around, considering how much they used to be.by COVID-19 Signage Archives1 store in Key West had be Mask up reminder During the first omicron wave: Do not wear above the chin or under the nose. In the summer of 2021, placards at Houston grocery stores indicated that shopping carts were being discontinued. “It was disinfected.” And in November 2020, you may have taken the next step. be customized welcome mat In Washington DC it was written: Thank you for practicing 6 feet of social distancing.. Eli Fessler, a software engineer who launched Crowdsource His Archive in December 2020, wanted to “preserve certain aspects.” [COVID signage] “It felt very fleeting,” he told me. The gallery currently contains nearly 4,000 photos of signs from around the world, including the post he received: Recently, around October of this year:a keep a safe distance A sign in Incheon, South Korea.
There is no doubt that certain instances of ghost architecture can be attributed to forgetfulness, laziness, or apathy. The remains of social distancing stickers on some sidewalks in New York City appear to be in such disrepair that it’s hard to even bother to remove them. Outdoor dining huts, although exquisitely constructed, are currently rarely used and can be a pain to dismantle. A faded decal on a restaurant near his home in Manhattan says: order take-out alcohol “There’s a very human side to this,” Fessler said. “We forget to put things down. We forget to update the signs.”
But not all of it comes down to negligence. Signs taped to doors can be removed as easily as they were applied. Plastic barriers can be removed. Ease aside, ghost buildings should be gone by now, because finding them is never fun. Even if it passes, the signs could bring back unpleasant memories of the early days of the pandemic. The country’s overarching response to the pandemic has been what Klinenberg calls “the will not to know,” a conscious denial that the coronavirus has changed lives in any meaningful way. So some examples must have been left there on purpose, even if it evokes bad memories.
When I recently encountered Mask required Even now, when I see the sign at the entrance to my local pizza place, my mind flashes back to a much darker time. Do you remember when that was? That sign evoked a nagging voice in my brain, reminding me that I once wore a mask and encouraged others to do the same, and it filled me with guilt that I would never do that again. . Perhaps the shop owner felt the same way. Although unpleasant, the symptoms can persist. Because removing the signs requires addressing the message head-on, prompting difficult self-examination such as: Do we no longer believe in masking? Why not? “We have to consciously and intentionally say, we don’t need this anymore,” Klinenberg told me.
Outdated signs may be more common in places that have adopted public health measures from the beginning, i.e. blue regions. “I would be surprised to see the same level of ghost architecture in Florida, Texas and Alabama,” Klinenberg said. But ghost architecture seems to remain everywhere. A colleague of his sent him a photo of a sticker on the floor of a restaurant in Boise, Idaho. This sticker continues to show appreciation for social distancing. These COVID callbacks of his may be virtual. Website That’s because Miami Beach spas are still encouraging guests to physically distance and “swipe your credit card.”
Above all, the persistence of ghost architecture is a direct reflection of the failure of public health messaging to clearly articulate what measures are needed and when. In the first place, many billboards were born from garbled communications. “6 feet” commandFor example, it lasted far longer than the point at which public health experts realized it was a flawed benchmark for stopping infections.
The reversal of public health precautions has been similarly confusing. Masking policies have fluctuated greatly since the arrival of vaccines.Despite the federal government’s declaration of a state of emergency due to the coronavirus It officially ended in May last year., there were no corresponding calls to suspend public health measures nationwide.Instead, separate policies Expiring at different times in different statessome were setting-specific in some cases: California did not end mask requirement For high-risk environments Until April last year, it was used in nursing homes, etc. Klinenberg said most people don’t yet know what to think about the coronavirus and it’s easier to leave things as they are.
If these signs are the result of confusing coronavirus messages, they may also be making the problem worse. Reminding people to wash or sanitize their hands is usually harmless. However, in other situations, ghost architecture can perpetuate false beliefs. For example, you might think it’s safe to maintain 6 feet of distance in a room full of people without masks, or you might think that masks alone are foolproof against the coronavirus. For people who still have to take precautions for health reasons, the fact that the signs still exist, only to be ignored, can feel like a slap in the face. The downside to keeping Ghost His Architecture alive is the continued uncertainty about how to act, whether during a pandemic or otherwise.
The contradiction inherent in ghost architecture is that it simultaneously evokes the pandemic and reflects widespread apathy towards it. Perhaps people don’t bother removing the signs because they think no one will follow them anyway, Fessler said. Avoidance and apathy keep them going, and there’s not much reason to think that will change. If things continue, coronavirus ghost signs could follow the same trajectory as the defunct Cold War-era nuclear shelter signs that have remained on buildings in New York City for years. over half a centuryAt the same time, it misleads observers and reminds them that the nuclear threat, although diminished, still exists.
The signs I saw at Newark Airport seemed hopelessly outdated, but how much do I know about the new coronavirus now, even though the virus is still far more deadly than the flu or other common respiratory illnesses? It made me worry that I was barely thinking about it.pass another person stop the spread At the hand sanitizing station, I placed my palm under the dispenser without any expectations. But this time, the gel squirted into my hands.
