A great-grandmother has worked out a way to safely hug her grandchildren during the coronavirus pandemic.
A video of the ingenious solution shows Rose Gagnon placing her hands through a large plastic sheet into arm shaped tubes, enabling her to embrace her loved ones.
The 85-year-old, who used to see her family every day, then wraps her arms around the first of her great-grandchildren, hugging him for the first time in two months.
As the embrace goes on a second grandchild can be seen jumping up and down excitedly yelling 'my turn'.
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The device, which has 'Hug Time' written in tape at the top, was constructed in the garden of Carly Marinaro's home in Rockford, Illinois.
The crafty mum constructed it using PVC pipes, a window insulator kit and gaffa tape.
Ms Gagnon said "My heart felt like it was going to burst. It filled my heart.
"I was getting to the point of 'Oh my gosh, I can't handle this, I need to hug her, the kids need to hug her.’ So it was just so worth it."
Loneliness amongst elderly people, which was a significant issue across the Western world prior to the lockdown, has been exasperated by social distancing measures.
In a bid to counter the ill affects on isolation, the Mirror has launched Britain Connects.
Its aim is to connect people across the country in pairs for an online chat on the weekend of May 22-24.
All you need to do is sign up at britainconnects.co.uk and we will find someone who is having a different experience to you and lives in a different part of the country.
We’ll then send you a link where you can meet safely over video and have a chat.
To find out more click here.
