Handshakes have long been considered a great way of establishing peace, sealing deals, building connections, giving a good first impression and so on. However, since Covid19 it is being looked at more minutely for it’s effectiveness in transmitting viruses.
In fact medical literature had mentioned the health risks of a handshake back in the early 1900s; and yet, a century later, we continue to shake hands.
It is said that every time we touch a surface, we pick up 50% of it’s bacteria; that means a 50% chance of getting an infection. Now think about all the times you’re constantly touching bacteria-full objects like phones, doorknobs, lift buttons and then casually smashing palms with strangers; we not just expose but also exchange hundreds of bacteria multiple times every single day.
A research found out that we carry around 3,200 types of bacteria from 150 different species on our palms! So our hands can spread respiratory infections, Salmonella, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, E Coli, norovirus and most recently Coronavirus.
Has all this made you consider changing your handshake ways post-Coronavirus? You could try a nod, a wave, a smile or even a namaste and if you really really reallyyyy need physical contact then replace the handshake with a fist-bump.