The end of shaking hands?

That’s the question being asked by the Associated Press this week. Should we go back to shaking hands as we hopefully put all of the pandemic madness behind us? Politicians were making a big show of “bumping elbows” in place of handshakes while all of the social distancing rules were in place. Everyone was being told to wash their hands more frequently and to not touch their face after being in contact with strangers. (That’s still really not bad advice, to be honest.) But should the ancient tradition of handshaking be permanently abandoned just because the novel coronavirus is with us? Believe it or not, some people are seriously suggesting this is how we should operate moving forward. And one person in that group is none other than Dr. Fauci himself.

Not everyone is being as frantic as Fauci. One infectious disease specialist from Johns Hopkins University is quoted as saying that all of the concern over shaking hands is “overblown.” He advises people who are concerned about physical contact and the spread of COVID is to get vaccinated and wash your hands before touching your face. “That’s what hand sanitizer is for.”

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