As the coronavirus spreads, shaking hands is under assault, and new, 'touchless' greetings are sprouting in its wake. Will our reluctance to touch be short-lived, or is it time to retire the centuries-old handshake for a less germy gesture?
France's Health Minister, Olivier Véran, advised against shaking hands as well as cheek-to-cheek kissing, known in France as "faire la bise" .
Chances are good that once the threat of coronavirus settles, handshaking will continue as usual. But perhaps it's time to reconsider the tradition — one we know leads to illness and disease transmission.With origins dating back to ancient Greece, handshaking is believed to have originated to prove participants were not holding weapons A funeral stone in Berlin's Pergamom museum from 5th century B.C. shows two soldiers clasping hands.
In the 19th century, germ theory replaced smells, demons, astrology and a vengeful God as the dominant theory behind microorganism transmission. German physician Robert Koch discovered that specific germs caused specific diseases, and French microbiologist Louis Pasteur disproved the idea of spontaneous generation — meaning, germs must be passed from one source to another. They don't just appear magically on their own.
Still, handwashing in general wasn't widely practiced until the 1980s. Today, the average person shakes hands 15,000 times in their lifetime.In many parts of Europe and the Middle East, people kiss when they meet and depart. In New Zealand, the native Maoris tap noses and foreheads together.
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