Can Plexiglass Stop COVID?

When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in mid-March, the management at Milt & Edie's Drycleaners in Burbank, CA, knew they needed to protect their workers and customers. They mandated masks and hung plastic shields at every workstation where customers drop off clothes. The shields allow customers and workers to see each other and talk easily, but not worry about getting sneezed on or coughed on.

Al Luevanos at Milt & Edie's Drycleaners in Burbank, CA, says they installed plastic shields to protect workers and customers.

"We installed those almost immediately," says Al Luevanos, a manager at the cleaners. And it's not unnoticed by workers. "It makes me feel safer, knowing I work for people who care not only about the health of the customers but also the workers," says Kayla Stark, an employee.

Plexiglass partitions are seemingly everywhere these days -- grocery stores, dry cleaners, restaurant pickup windows, discount stores, and pharmacies. They're recommended by the CDC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), among others.

"Grocers were among the first retailers to adopt the plexiglass barrier," says Dave Heylen, a spokesperson for the California Grocers Association, Sacramento, an industry group that represents about 300 retail companies operating over 7,000 stores. Nearly all grocers did so, he says, without any formal recommendation from the association.