Bloomberg May 11, 2021 11:08 am
Olivia Schneider pulled down her mask and inhaled the perfume from purple blossoms, their sweetness casting the engineer back to her Wisconsin kick-the-can childhood and her mother clipping lilacs for the dinner table.
Last spring, the simple act would’ve flouted signs imposing pandemic rules for the Harvard-owned Arnold Arboretum’s more than 400 lilac bushes. “Please enjoy the lilacs from a distance,” they read, warning that they should be treated “like any other surface that can spread COVID-19.”
This Mother’s Day, lilac-sniffing is fair game another small reminder of how data and experience have refined our tools for combating the virus.
Olivia Schneider pulled down her mask and inhaled the perfume from purple blossoms, their sweetness casting the engineer back to her Wisconsin kick-the-can childhood and her mother clipping lilacs for the dinner table.
Last spring, the simple act wouldâve flouted signs imposing pandemic rules for the Harvard-owned Arnold Arboretumâs more than 400 lilac bushes. âPlease enjoy the lilacs from a distance,â they read, warning that they should be treated âlike any other surface that can spread COVID-19.â
This Motherâs Day, lilac-sniffing is fair game â another small reminder of how data and experience have refined our tools for combating the virus.