Go Ahead, Touch That ... Stop! No Handshakes!

Oh, wait, don't you know those early warnings and precautions about surface-touching (fomites) causing infection with COVID is passe? Well it is! Oh the pains we took to avoid touching anything, anything at all because in our early panic over the fast-spreading virus the rising hospitalizations and deaths, we were taught: do not touch your face, keep your hands away from mouth, eyes, nose. Wash your hands, wash them again and again. 

Wipe down the interior of your car, of kitchen surfaces. Don't touch the handlebar of the trolley at the supermarket, watch where you put your hands, don't handle anything you don't have to. WEAR A MASK! Watch out for contamination; picking up the virus through contaminated surfaces, spreading it. Wipe down with soapy water everything you bring into your home. Well, folks, all that has changed. It changed a while ago. Where've you been?

The SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID, you see, is passed through airborne droplets expelled from someone's mouth, their nose. Close contact, you see, will do it. You never know, unsymptomatic people are everywhere! Take care. Stay safe. Immobilize yourself, remain safe at home. Well, relax, science has proven that surface contamination is rare. But those instructions to leave a distance between you and someone else? Get used to it. Mask wearing? Don't leave home without it....

Fact is, when people are terrified as were populations the world over in the face of a global pandemic, instructions stick with them and the stigma attached to touching hard surfaces of all kinds remains uppermost in peoples' minds. We're informed by science that the fear of surface transmission was vastly overblown. But take notice: spread of infection is definitely linked to respiratory droplets. Take care who you decide to share a hug and a kiss with. But, there's more...

"Hand-to-hand contact isn't likely to be a major risk [for COVID-19 transmission, but coming in close to someone long enough to shake their hand is an issue, if the people involved aren't wearing high-quality masks that are properly fitted."

"Hands are gross. Touch may not matter so much for COVID19, but it almost certainly does for other serious viruses. The other reason is bacterial contamination. Most bacteria are harmless or beneficial. Our bodies are covered in bacteria, inside and out. But some types, associated with the two 'Fs' [food and feces] are very harmful. Between kitchen and bathroom, our hands can get dangerously dirty."

"I'm not a germaphobe, but I'm a real fan of hand sanitizer. If we shook hands less, we'd sure need it less, and we'd get sick less."

"Handshaking is a deeply embedded social ritual, but of course it's not universal. A lesser change, like knuckle-bumping, would be great.

"COVID-19 is unusually adaptable to different species, which is part of what makes it dangerous. That said, pet transmission does not seem to be very common at all. The main risk is bacterial contamination from whatever Rover might have stepped in recently."

Colin Purness, infection control epidemiologist, University of Toronto