コロナ下でも大切な人にハグを、カナダ女性考案の「手袋」が話題

【トロントＡＦＰ＝時事】新型コロナウイルスの流行下でも、「母の日」には母親を抱き締めたい──こんな思いから、感染リスクを心配せず安全に相手を抱きしめられる独創的な「ハグ手袋」をカナダ人女性が考案した。（写真は「ハグ手袋」越しに抱き合うキャロリン・エリスさん（右）と母親のスーザン・ワッツさん）
　洗濯ロープにつるした大きな透明のプラスチックシートに、同じプラスチック素材で作った「袖」が４つテープで固定され、両側に立った２人がそれぞれ手を入れればじかに接触することなく抱き合える。
　南部オンタリオ州のグエルフに住むキャロリン・エリスさんが夫と共に、今月１０日の母の日を前に制作した。
　「母がずっとハグをしてもらっていないことに気づいて、何とかしなければならないと。母の日にプレゼントしたかったんです」とエリスさんはＡＦＰに語った。
　エリスさんと母親が抱擁を交わす瞬間を映した動画は、ソーシャルメディアで瞬く間に広く拡散され、エリスさんを驚かせた。
　「私は、ただ母を抱き締めたかっただけ」「拡散スピードにはかなり衝撃を受けたけれど、私たちのハグで皆が喜んでくれているのには、わくわくしますね。最高です」とエリスさんは話している。
　エリスさんは、プラスチックシート越しのハグは、どうやっても「本物」にはかなわないが、それでも母を抱き締めることができてよかったと話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/19-13:02）

A Canadian woman has come up with an ingenious way to safely hug her mother, even during the coronavirus pandemic: the hug glove, a plastic tarp with four sleeves hanging from a clothesline.
In the southern Ontario city of Guelph, Carolyn Ellis and her husband Andrew developed the so-called hug glove on the eve of Mother's Day, which this year was celebrated on May 10 in North America.
It occurred to me that she wasn't getting the hugs, and we really needed to do something about that, Carolyn told AFP. I want to give it for Mother's Day.
They taped plastic sleeves to a large tarp, allowing two people to hug each other without making direct contact.
It was very much a time effort, trying to figure out the size and the height of the holes, Ellis said. We worked on it until late hours of Saturday night, and then we had everything set up for Mother's Day on Sunday.
It was a great gift.
A video they recorded of the moment they embraced was shared on social media and quickly went viral. But Ellis says she was surprised by how fast it took off.
I just wanted to hug my mom, she said. We were quite shocked on how quickly it went viral, but thrilled that other people are benefiting from our hug. We loved it.
And while a plastic-covered hug will never be as good as the real thing, it was still comforting -- after weeks of lockdowns and other social distancing measures -- to be able to hold her mother again, Ellis said.
This allows it to kind of get back to normal. It really gives us a sense of hope that it's not going to be forever, Ellis said.
That physical feeling feels like home, you know, a hug from your mom -- it feels so good.