Supposedly fun things we’ll never do the same way again after COVID-19
Early in the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said something that grabbed a lot of attention: Handshakes should become a thing of the past. It sounded far-fetched.
But as the outbreak drags on, and we have become more conscious of germs and hygiene, “some of the changes we made are likely to be really durable,” said Malia Jones, who researches social environments and infectious disease exposure at the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
› Blowing Out the Candles on Your Cake
The tradition of singing around a birthday cake and blowing out the candles could fade.
“Spit all over the cake has always been disgusting to me,” said Susan Hassig, an associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane University in New Orleans.
It is the singing of “Happy Birthday” that actually poses a greater risk when it comes to spreading droplets that could carry respiratory illnesses, such as the novel coronavirus, said Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. It is best to take the singing outside, she said, and to spread out, too.
› Letting Your Kid Jump Into a Ball Pit
Swimming around in a pool of plastic — a material cited by experts to be especially good at harboring germs — could become a thing of the past, at least at McDonald’s restaurants.
“I don’t know if we’ve got ball pits in our future,” McDonald’s chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, recently told Time. “There’s probably some good public-health reasons not for us to be doing a lot of ball pits.”
› Getting a Quick After-Work Makeover
Once upon a time, if you wanted to try new makeup — or give yourself a free makeover between the office and after-work drinks — you could head for the testers or samples at Sephora, Ulta or department stores. Just don’t think too hard about who used the brush or lipstick sample before you. Saks Fifth Avenue is one store making changes. Reusable samples have been replaced with single-use, disposable items, its chief executive told The New York Post.
› Bumping Elbows at a Loud, Crowded Bar
After months of distancing, mask wearing and nixing small talk in public, will we be shouting in one another’s faces at bars or clubs again? Experts hope not.
“Social distancing is going to become a common norm at this point,” Nolan said.
Having a conversation with someone up close, especially when people are talking loudly or excitedly in a setting where alcohol is flowing and music blaring, is risky, Nolan said, advising that calm, low-volume, conversation is safer.
Your behavior in social situations will be shaped by how people around you act, said Jeanine Skorinko, a social psychology professor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. If your group keeps social-distancing rules, talks quietly and avoids sharing drinks, you are likely to follow suit.
› Plunging a Handful of Straws Into a Giant Party Cocktail
You know those comically large shared alcoholic drinks? Sometimes they are called scorpion bowls. They might feature plastic fish swimming around in a plastic fish bowl. Or the drink might be a Moscow Mule fit for an actual mule, served in a copper mug the size of a flower pot.
Those giant party cocktails are backwash buckets, epidemiologists said.
Nolan said the alcohol could potentially kill whatever comes through the straw, although Hassig warned that some germs and viruses “could survive a dunk into a drink.” If these drinks ever come back, share them only with close roommates.
› Passing the Microphone at Karaoke
Passing a mic around a group of friends and singing (if you can call it that, for some of us) in a small room goes against the epidemiologists’ guidance to avoid singing or to do it outdoors. In Japan, where the virus is under better control and karaoke is widely popular, a karaoke industry association advised establishments to ask patrons to wear masks and to limit the number of people in a room.