If Dr. Fauci had his druthers, that would be the end of it.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration’s most public expert on the coronavirus pandemic, is strongly recommending that everyone avoid shaking hands ever again, even after a vaccine arrives for the virus and things start going back to normal.
Dr. Fauci made that recommendation during an interview when asked about what behaviors might linger, even in a post-coronavirus world.
Dr. Fauci made that recommendation during an interview when asked about what behaviors might linger, even in a post-coronavirus world.
The public face of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis, however, has already offered at least one blunt suggestion we should try not to forget once we’re past this pandemic. And given that Dr. Anthony Fauci is the infectious diseases expert who’s one of the few trustworthy voices in the Trump administration on this, it’s something we should definitely not ignore. His recommendation: Absolutely no more handshakes, even after we’ve defeated this virus. “As a society, just forget about shaking hands,” Fauci said during a new television interview.
“We don’t need to shake hands,” he continued. “We’ve got to break that custom. Because as a matter of fact, that is one of the major ways you can transmit a respiratory-borne illness.”
He was making that point as part of a larger discussion about how he thinks some of the behaviors and habits we’re practicing now will in all likelihood become facts of life going forward, in a post-coronavirus world. And in the case of doing away forever with something like a handshake, which can easily spread germs, that’s a good thing. “I think what we’re going to have embedded and imprinted in us forever is the realization that something as catastrophic as what the world is experiencing now can happen,” he said.
“We don’t need to shake hands,” he continued. “We’ve got to break that custom. Because as a matter of fact, that is one of the major ways you can transmit a respiratory-borne illness.”
He was making that point as part of a larger discussion about how he thinks some of the behaviors and habits we’re practicing now will in all likelihood become facts of life going forward, in a post-coronavirus world. And in the case of doing away forever with something like a handshake, which can easily spread germs, that’s a good thing. “I think what we’re going to have embedded and imprinted in us forever is the realization that something as catastrophic as what the world is experiencing now can happen,” he said.
