This social distancing picnic blanket will make you look forward to summer

Somehow, it’s almost summer — but while warm weather can hurt the coronavirus, it won’t beat the pandemic all on its own. With some researchers saying we’ll be social distancing until 2022, this means that our usual summer activities will look a lot different this year (and perhaps beyond).

Take for example, days in the park. If we’re supposed to stay six feet apart from those we’re not living with, how can we share a picnic blanket with all our friends? Thanks to London-based designer Paul Cocksedge, we have a solution: the Here Comes the Sun blanket. 

Cocksedge was inspired to create the blanket when he was out on a walk and was craving being close to people, he said in an interview with architecture and design magazine Dezeen. Furthermore, despite being a designer he had trouble visualizing what two meters (or six feet, the recommended distance from the CDC) actually looks like. And if someone who works with measurements has this issue, it’s likely the rest of us do, too. 

Enter the blanket, the design of which Cocksedge made available for free for anyone to download and make their own. It’s easy to loop around, say, a beach umbrella, or a tree as shown in the above photo. 

“People can craft it at home now, while they can’t go out, and then use it when we’re able to socialize again,” Cocksedge told Dezeen. “It’s a way of giving you confidence to spend time with others in a safe way.” 

Innovations like this can make transitioning out of staying at home — yet keeping with social distancing guidelines — a bit easier. But please, remember to wear a mask.