SALT LAKE CITY • There were three participants in Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate: Republican Mike Pence, Democrat Kamala Harris and the Plexiglas between them.

The clear partitions went largely unmentioned as Pence and Harris directed criticism at one another, and the home audience couldn’t see them in split-screen TV images. But when the cameras showed Pence or Harris from the side, the candidates’ reflections were evident on the barriers.

It was a reminder of the coronavirus, prominent in the evening’s discussion. They were late additions to the stage in Salt Lake City, underscoring how the pandemic rages on less than a month before the Nov. 3 election. Pence and Harris were stationed at desks spaced more than 12 feet apart, each with a partition on the side facing the other candidate.

Harris’ team requested Plexiglas be used after President Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly after his first presidential debate against Democrat Joe Biden last week in Cleveland. Pence’s team, meanwhile, insisted they were not medically necessary, an objection that came as Trump returned to the White House. The Trump campaign is trying to move past the virus despite the president’s own diagnosis.

For the most part, Pence and Harris directed their comments toward moderator Susan Page rather than in each other’s direction. She was not protected by Plexiglas.

Other reminders that these are not normal times for a vice presidential debate: 20 chairs for guests were spaced roughly 6 feet apart in the debate hall, a performing arts center on the University of Utah campus. The auditorium’s balcony included 60 students who won a lottery for tickets and were issued salmon-colored university masks. Donors and other guests sat in traditional theater seats, though there were at least two empty seats between guests.