Coronavirus Shields Manufactured By Glenview Company

GLENVIEW — When Scott Gordon, owner of Pease Plastics in Glenview, found about Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order, no one came to work the following Monday. But after receiving a number of requests to design acrylic shields to fight the coronavirus, Gordon said he was able to get half of his crew members back to work within the first week of the emergency order.

"If businesses are going to reopen and social distancing will be a part of it, you're going to have to have some barriers in place," Gordon said. "We're anticipating that the demand for this sort of thing is going to increase."

Early into the pandemic, Gordon said he was contacted by the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute about setting up barriers at their offices. After manufacturing a number of shields for them, Gordon said the decision was made to offer acrylic shields to the rest of the public.

One benefit of Pease Plastics' acrylic shields is their ability to stand on their own without having to be screwed into a desk or countertop. The shields offered to the Bone and Joint Institute were held together with caulk, which allows for easy removal, Gordon said.

Although acrylic shield projects are in demand, Gordon said requests for other projects have dwindled, which has reduced the company's project backlog from three or four weeks to a few days.

Were it not for the requests for acrylic shields, Gordon said his staff would have been furloughed through the pandemic. However, Gordon said half of his staff have returned to work and his company is still maintaining payroll for all employees and health insurance benefits for those who have coverage through the company.

Pease Plastics has created a special website for virus shield orders.

Illinois Coronavirus Update April 24: 36,934 Cases; 1,688 Deaths

Glenview Patch continues to write human-interest profiles on Glenview-area businesses during the ongoing health crisis. Glenview Patch has a simple online survey for local small businesses to fill out to let everyone know they are open and their current hours of operation. About a dozen Glenview businesses have been added to Patch's list so far.

If you want to add your business to Glenview Patch's list of open and closed businesses, you can do so here.

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