Distancing at Reopened Offices Will Mean Long Elevator Lines

The line for the elevator will probably look a lot different for many office dwellers when businesses gradually start reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 900,000 elevators make at least 18 billion passenger trips per year in the U.S., according to the National Elevator Industry Inc., a business association that represents some of the country’s largest lift manufacturers. The economic slowdown caused by the pandemic has given many of those elevators a rest, but companies are already thinking about how many workers can fit in a car at once, how to keep the air inside circulating, and what to ...