Plexiglass houses: Parliaments adapt to the coronavirus age

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Across Europe and beyond, parliaments have had to adapt their operations to stop the new coronavirus spreading through the corridors of power. Social distancing, online debates, masks, plexiglass, hazard tape — each country’s legislature has adopted its own measures. A plexiglass barrier has been installed around the speaker’s podium in Greece. Britain’s House of Commons now features hazard tape and red “no sitting” signs. Italy’s prime minister was heckled for removing his mask to speak. Lebanon moved its entire parliamentary session into a cavernous theater, and in Spain, a cleaner disinfecting the speakers’ microphone gained sudden online celebrity status.