The wary greeting
Coronavirus threat has Houstonians rethinking hugs and handshakes
Houstonians, hardened by floods, hurricanes and water-main breaks, are awaiting the arrival of coronavirus with the usual mix of jokes, public-service reminders and nervous shopping. But they also face a brand-new question: What’s proper etiquette in the face of a pandemic?
Experts warn that people who carry coronavirus may not know they have it and so continue to circulate in public, spreading the COVID-19 risk. Though the virus has killed thousands worldwide, mild cases can resemble the flu or a bad cold. Some people carry the virus for up to 14 days before developing the characteristic fever, cough and difficulty breathing. Other people can harbor it without ever showing
symptoms.
So, Houstonians wonder, how do we even say hello anymore? Do we still shake hands? Do we risk a hug or an air kiss? Do we bump fists or elbows? Do we make a little bow? Does that funny foot-tap greeting exist outside the internet?
On Super Tuesday — one of handshaking’s peak days — Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt of Houston gamely greeted people with a move he called a Roman handshake, clasping upper forearms rather than hands, à la Kirk Douglas in the movie “Spartacus.”
“People laugh,” Bettencourt said. “They get the message.
And guys remember it from middle school.”
Other frequent handshakers are struggling to shake the habit. For consultant and disability advocate Katy Kleinhans, the motion comes naturally. “I’ll go put my hand out like a politician when I’m in line at the Circle K,” she said.
She’s trying to recondition herself to tap elbows — a move she learned from an infectious disease specialist when her mother was hospitalized. But ingrained moves die hard. “I have to catch myself,” she said. “My hand starts going out.”
Many religious institutions — including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston — are changing parts of their services that traditionally involve human contact. Episcopal priest and musician Mark Marmon, though, remains a staunch advocate for shaking hands and hugging. “I went through this during the AIDS scare, even visiting victims in hospice,” he said. “I’m not invulnerable but have held my own faith.”
So far, consultant Ileana Treviño hasn’t changed the way she greets friends. “We’re Texans,” she said with a laugh. “Texans hug.”
In the same vein, Lone Star College professor Colin Ward said COVID-19 won’t stop him from hugging close friends: “If they get it, I’m with them all the way.”
Others welcome a chance to use non-Western greetings. “Namaste,” Tulsi Kamath, a digital editor at KPRC (Channel 2), wrote via Facebook. She added a prayer-hands emoji.
And then there are people who never wanted to touch or be touched in the first place. Daniel Reyes, a writer and editor for the Federal Aviation Administration, celebrated a chance to be left alone. “These are the days when introverts like me realize being anti-social has its perks,” he wrote on Facebook.