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

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.

Temperature scanners ensure no one with a fever above 100.4 degrees reaches the bank of elevators that now hold only two passengers at a time.

Upstairs, in the center's workspace, doors open with foot or forearm pulls. The entrepreneurs who work here wear masks and can get all the way to their desk chairs — spaced at least 6 feet apart, of course — without touching any shared surfaces with their hands.

It's reassuring, in one way, but a little unnerving in another. The Cambridge Innovation Center was a pioneer of the coworking movement, which is all about bumping into people and sharing ideas. Maintaining the collegial spirit could be challenging in a time when rubbing elbows with fellow entrepreneurs is forbidden.

"Yeah, I think that's true," Rowe acknowledged, "but let's remember the period of time we're talking about. This is a very unique period of time. And I think for people to pull back and focus on digital and video-based meetings — and some meetings are in person but with safe spacing — we think that works."

It'll have to do for now.

Less than half a mile away, the biotechnology company Moderna is racing toward a potential coronavirus vaccine. Rowe is optimistic that the effort, or one of the dozens like it, will succeed so his normally high-touch office can go back to handshakes and packed networking nights.

But, for now, the goal here — and in many other offices — is to touch as little as possible.