Handshake death predictions were premature

Before Joe Biden left for his trip to the Middle East last week, White House officials said the president would limit physical contact, including handshakes, as part of COVID-19 precautions. .

Still, the president appeared to exchange greetings, punching some while shaking hands with others.

He also pointed out that while his potential demise was predicted in the early days of the pandemic, the handshake proved just too tough to go.

« There’s the science. I think there’s the fact that it’s not only a habit that’s ingrained in a lot of people, but there’s no good replacement either, » Andrew said. Molinsky, professor of organizational behavior at the International Business School at Brandeis University in Boston.

Molinsky said that among the « greeting wallet, » which includes first bump, elbow, smile, and wave, « market share has been and still is dominated by handshake. »

Hard habit to break

« The question then would be why? Were the other gestures not so compelling? Is this a hard habit to break? Or is there something inherent about [it]?

« I think that’s probably all of it. »

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, with knowledge about the virus and its transmission in its infancy, one area that was of concern for potential spread was physical contact and the simple gesture of shaking hands.

This gesture has been a sore point for some infectious disease specialists long before COVID-19. Microorganisms that can cause infections can live on the surface of the hand, especially on the palm. When someone shakes hands, these germs can be transferred from one person’s skin to another’s skin.

This in itself is usually harmless, but the threat arises when a person who has just received this germ then touches their face and allows these microbes to enter their mouth, nose or eyes.

And when the COVID-19 virus emerged, it was thought to pose the same transmission threat as well.

“There are many different viruses, including respiratory viruses, that can be spread through handshakes, touching and that sort of thing,” said Stephen Kissler, a researcher in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University. Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. .

« We had every reason to believe that SARS-CoV-2 would behave similarly. »

A number of articles in 2020 predicted that this virus would finally put an end to the sprouting gesture, including one from Time magazine »COVID-19 killed the handshake. What will replace it?« And that of the New Yorker »In Memoriam: The handshake.«

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told the Wall Street Journal in an April 2020 podcast that he doesn’t believe « we should ever shake hands again. » .

Thinking has changed “radically”

But after initial fears — and more research — “the thinking around this has changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic,” Kissler said.

« It really does seem, from all the large amounts of data we’ve collected so far, that the overwhelming majority of infections are occurring through airborne spread, » he said.

« I would say shaking hands is a low risk thing you can do in regards to COVID. »

That’s not to say COVID-19 can’t be spread through touch. It’s just not that easy, said Linsey Marr, an airborne infectious disease transmission researcher and professor at Virginia Tech.

« I think the infected person should have wiped their nose with their hand or spit on it. There’s kind of a lot of virus on it and then shake hands with the other person, » the civil engineering professor said. and environmental.

« And then the other person touches their eyes or [goes] in their nose or in their mouth. »

But Marr said there were « a lot of casualties along the way » and only some of the virus would transfer into their hands.

« It’s not like any of this transfers from person to person, » she said.

While surfaces were considered a high risk for transmission, research shows that they play a small role and aerosols are more important. The biggest concern would be the close contact those handshakes would have with each other, said Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician and researcher at Stanford University.

« The concern isn’t so much that someone will have it on hand and they’ll pass it on to you. The bigger concern is that you’re basically very close to someone and they’re breathing close to you and that you get infected that way,” Karan said.

He said that while it’s « theoretically possible » to transmit the virus through body-to-body contact, « I don’t think it’s a big concern ».

Meanwhile, some research indicates that despite the science, the handshake has taken a few hits during the pandemic.

And it’s unclear if people are still ready to embrace the gesture as easily as before the pandemic.

Gradual return

Kristin Nelson, assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at Emory University, co-authored an article in Science That said, some studies of populations in the United States and Europe show that although handshakes and other types of physical contact have been interrupted for a prolonged period, they only return gradually.

For example, research shows that contacts are less likely to involve physical contact now than before the pandemic and that masking remains common, according to the article.

« When you ask people how many touches did you have today or yesterday where you actually touched someone, shook hands or other physical contact – that’s actually a lower number than what it was before the pandemic started,” Nelson said.

However, Juliana Schroeder, an assistant professor of organizational management at Berkeley Haas at the University of California, who has researched the gesture, suggested the handshake will likely be back in full swing, as it’s l one of those memorable rituals to be passed down through generations.

« That’s why they have these…physical characteristics that have a certain repetition and a certain formality, a certain symbolism, » she said.

« They’re sort of easily rooted. And so the handshake is definitely part of that. It’s almost like second nature for people to reach out when they see a new person. »