Since the start of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Americans have been continually hammered with the idea of "social distancing" and avoiding contact with others outside their households. The White House Coronavirus Task Force has continually told people to stay home as much as possible, stand six feet apart from strangers when they do have to go out and wash their hands frequently. The biggest change that we have seen, even among our political leaders, is the societal shift from handshaking to "elbow bumping."
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Americans should make the shift from handshaking a permanent move.
"When you gradually come back, you don't jump into it with both feet. You say, what are the things you could still do and still approach normal? One of them is absolute compulsive hand washing. The other is you don't ever shake anybody's hands," Fauci told The Wall Street Journal's podcast. "I don't think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you. Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease; it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country."
The Task Force provides Americans with a direct update on the Wuhan coronavirus on an almost-daily basis. One of the things Dr. Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx has repeatedly praised the American people for is taking mitigation steps, like social distancing, seriously. Because of that, the numbers of infections and deaths are currently lower than originally anticipated. America was estimated to suffer from 2.2 million deaths as a result of the Wuhan coronavirus, making the assumption that absolutely no mitigation took place. That number significantly falls to between 100,000 and 200,00 deaths when mitigation is implemented. Drs. Fauci and Birx believe that the total number of deaths could actually come in lower because the nation has done such a decent job at social distancing, staying home and washing their hands.
Only time will tell if handshaking is a thing of the past.
