Cuddling in Covid-19: ‘Hug bubble’ lets seniors feel the magic of touch

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, French care home resident Colette Dupas's contact with her daughters has been limited to talking via video call, or through a window.

Now the 97-year-old has been able to feel their touch, thanks to an inflatable tunnel and two plastic sleeves.

The "hug bubble" allows care home residents, isolated from the outside world to protect them the virus, to hold hands and embrace visiting relatives, because at all times they are separated by a hermetically-sealed plastic film.

Dupas ran a bakery in Boussois, 6 km (3 miles) from the nursing home, until her retirement. Her family still run the business.

When meeting her daughters on Friday, Dupas entered through one end of the tunnel. She stood in front of the plastic sheet and put her arms through two plastic sleeves stitched into the film at shoulder height.

Her daughters, Marie-Paule Dronsart and Marie-Joseph Marchant, approached from the other side. Each of them put one arm through a sleeve. They patted their mother's shoulders and stroked her white hair.