Welcome Back To The Office. Please Don’t Touch Anything.

From inside the entrance to the Cambridge Innovation Center at 1 Broadway, Tim Rowe waves his hand over a sensor to open the door. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

It’s reopening week for some Massachusetts office buildings that have been closed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Occupancy is capped at 25% to promote physical distancing, and some companies are taking additional measures.

At the Cambridge Innovation Center, home to hundreds of Kendall Square startups, the main entrance now opens with a wave of the hand, thanks to sensors beside the doors.

One of founder Tim Rowe’s chief objectives is to reduce the need to touch common surfaces — things like door handles and elevator buttons — which explains the small, individually wrapped gadget that awaits each employee and visitor in the lobby.

It resembles a flip-top lighter. But instead of a flame inside, there’s a rubber tip for pressing buttons and tapping shared computer screens. And the cap holds a sponge that can be soaked in sanitizer.

Between uses, the tip gets a coating of sanitizer from the sponge. So, whenever someone touches a surface with the little gizmo, they’re “part of the [office] cleaning regimen, as a user,” Rowe explains.

Read the rest of this story at WBUR’s website.