I’ve never really thought about it until recently: lift buttons can be really unhygienic.
You never really know who’s touched them.
Even worse, what someone went to the toilet for a number two and didn’t wash his hands AND touched them?
COVID-19 certainly only helps worsen this paranoia.
Of course, with every problem comes a solution and Thailand has the solution part on lock.
A Foot On Your Troubles
Who knew all you needed was to step on your problems?
We mean that extremely literally.
A mall in Thailand tackled this fear by replacing all of its lift buttons with foot pedals.
It probably would’ve caught a few people off guard, but it would definitely help lessen the paranoia of “should I touch the button”.
In fact, Prote Sosothikul, vice president of Seacon Development, which oversees the mall, mentioned that this invention was precisely to prevent contamination through touch.
“Eventually (you will) touch your face and the virus will go into your mouth, your eyes, or whatever. So we came up with this idea of hands-free, foot-operated elevator.”
Guess you could say he put his…foot down on the problem.
And the customers’ responses? They love it.
A comment from one even stated that they felt the mall prepared very well for this and felt much safer with the changes.
The real question is: when can we get stuff like that here in Singapore too? Just don’t ever expect them in HDBs, because we don’t even have space to stand in the lift.
Relaxation Of Measures
Shopping in Thailand has been halted for a while since most malls have been closed in March, even earlier than our own Circuit Breaker.
And did halting mall activity work? Absolutely.
Numbers went down enough that they could first ease up measures on 3 May.
This allowed markets, selected eateries, retailers, sports and recreational activities, haircutting services as well as pet grooming and boarding businesses to reopen.
Then, on 17 May, it was decided that malls and department stores would be safe to conduct business as well.
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All of this looks like a huge upward spiral for the country, especially since tourism and domestic activity were badly hit by the virus outbreak. They even went into an early recession!
Similarities to Singapore
Remember, we’re about to go through several phases of transition as well.
Starting 2 June, we’ll be entering into ‘Phase 1’ of our post Circuit Breaker life.
But don’t expect it to be vastly different.
As the image shows, most of the rules from Circuit Breaker kind of still apply, minus the fact that you can visit family members in small groups.
Phase 2 is when the real good stuff will happen.
You can actually get back out to the gym, go back to school (boo!) and my favourite: returning back to eating outside!
But until all that happens, where’re my foot-pedal lifts at JEM? I want some of that futuristic technology!
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