I appreciate your article. I have felt uncomfortable about handshakes for a long time. I’m a psychologist and I evaluate veterans, meeting new veterans every day. They frequently want to shake hands when we meet. It’s been hard for me to overcome that desire to be polite and will give in and shake hands. There’s a medical doctor in the clinic and I would always hear him say, “Let’s fist bump instead. It’s flu season and it’s not a good idea to shake hands.” He says this year-round. I would smile whenever he said it, knowing that he always does that, flu season or not. I talked to him about it one day and I agreed that he really was right about this. We are on our keyboards right after greeting the veterans and, again, because of politeness, we don’t immediately reach for the hand sanitizer. I like his approach of fist bumping and now I think it will be completely socially appropriate to forego handshakes and even wave or do an elbow bump.

We can find ways of being polite while still protecting ourselves. And now we know that it’s not just ourselves that we’re protecting!

Thank you again for the article.