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Keith McCord ReportingWhen you go up and greet a person, chances are you extend your arm and engage in the traditional hand shake. But with all the concern about spreading disease, especially during this flu season, the hand shake is out! So, what's in?
Picking up germs is relatively easy -- on doorknobs, elevator buttons, computer keyboards, the fridge in the employee lunch room. During the cold and flu season, we politely cover our coughs and sneezes with our hands, and then we pass those germs along with a handshake.
Rouett Abouzelof, Infection Prevention/Control Coord. PCMC: "We frequently touch our faces without ever realizing it. We brush our eyes and hair, brush our hair out of our eyes, so I could pick up something from you."
With the outbreak of Bird Flu and other diseases, and fears of future pandemics, the World Health Organization has come up with a new gesture. It looks kind of goofy but, it does allow us to continue to give a greeting to others and avoid their cooties at the same time.
Health care professionals we talked with like it!
Rouett Abouzelof, Infection Prevention, Control Coord. PCMC: "But in general it's not a bad idea. We do it all the time; we say, ‘Hey, how you doing?' Kind of hit each other, so you could!"
Business people are always shaking hands, so we asked them to weigh in. We "bumped" into Bill Wilcox and Jason Brock downtown.
Jason Brock: "Good idea, but bad way to do it."
So, what might they suggest to the World Health Organization?
Jason Brock: "Air high five!"
But if you'd rather shake hands instead of bump elbows, then do what everyone else doesm keep a bottle of hand sanitizer on your desk or in your pocket, and some towelettes, and keep washing your hands.
By the way, during the big flu epidemic in 1918, handshaking was outlawed in one city in Arizona.
