Folklore says that shaking hands was originally to show that you were not carrying a weapon, at least not in that hand. With bacteria and viruses, the danger is in the handshake. Strange.
The "elbow bump" is apparently the greeting of choice during a pandemic, as it is difficult to sneeze into one's elbow and is just as silly as the high-five. I was on a cruise ship recently, and the captain announced on the first day that the crew and staff do not, as a practice, shake hands. Then he gave a lecture on washing our hands. He encouraged the passengers to not shake hands as well and there were anti-bacterial lotion dispensers everywhere I turned. They even gave us a pocket size tube of the stuff to carry with us. I prefer soap, and used it often, like everytime I get around school age kids.
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And no shaking hands!
The whole thread (48 posts)
- 142 million deaths possible from bird flu
- I've got a question...
- Possible BEFORE modern medicine. Not any longer.
- Comments
- Influenza pandemics
- I already got the flu shot -- they should have included bird flu if it were so serious
- Scarier than an asteroid hitting the Earth!
- Color me skeptical.
- I will bet you that more people die of measles than bird flu in '06. (n/t)