Tapping Elbows Won't Defeat Coronavirus

Instead, Dr. Mehle suggests that we abide by the social distancing measures that have been touted in recent days, which urge people to give each other at least a six-foot berth and which have been shown to work in limiting, if not breaking, transmission chains.

"If you're gonna have to interact with people, instead of shaking hands, bumping elbows is going to be good," says Dr. Mehle. "But if you want to minimize your risk as much as possible, social distancing is going to help more."

Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr., professor of microbiology and pathology at the NYU School of Medicine puts it even more bluntly: "The elbow bump is not ideal. I suggest a simple 'Hi' by raising your hand to a person, or holding your hand over your heart and saying 'Hi.' Elbow-to-elbow is too close to a person-it is a form of contact."

In addition to its sanitary efficacy, there's another surprise benefit to sticking to a wave over an elbow. According to Mark Bowden, a human-behavior and body language expert who has worked with G7 leaders, elbow-banging is anxiety-inducing.

"The elbow, that's going to raise cortisol levels-it's too bony, it's too hard," says Bowden. In fact, he says elbows are often used in aggressive body language-when people put their hands on their hips, they're not only trying to make themselves look bigger by expanding their chest area, "they're trying to create bony points with their elbows in order to say, look, if you were to attack me, you'd run into these, sharp pointy things. Often behaviorists liken them to the spines that a lizard will flash out around its head area, when it's under threat."

Since stress and anxiety are the last things we need right now, Bowden suggests we opt instead for some tried-and-true of non-contact greeting behaviors that help humans relax, like smiling and making direct eye contact. Bowden seconds Dr. Tierno's recommendation for a gentle hand raise, so long as you mix it with a smile, eye contact, and one other slight tweak on the palm-over-the-heart gesture.

"I would say [to put your hand] next to your chest. If it's over the front of your chest, that's often seen as a protective measure: Come no further." And sure, maybe you'd like to signal exactly that if said person is encroaching on your six-foot bubble. But, if not, Bowden suggests holding your "hello" hand up like you might at a swearing in, at chest or face height. "That's a signal we've had across cultures that says, 'I'm unarmed. I have no tools, I have no weapons, I have nothing to hide.'" (And, now, as of 2020, also says, Good day, I hope I don't have Coronavirus, but even if I do, I'm standing far enough away that I will not infect you, let's save our elbow bump for when things get better.)

If your reaction to all of this greeting etiquette is somewhere on the spectrum from an eye roll to "corona bumps for life, bro," it's worth considering something else Dr. Mehle relayed to me: some of the chains of coronavirus responsible for the outbreak in the U.S.-like those that mushroomed in Washington state, at the Biogen meeting in Boston, or on the Grand Princess cruise ship-started with just one or two infected people.

"How do you, as an individual, reconcile your behavior with that possibility?" he asks. "I would much rather exercise an abundance of caution-and not so much for me. Based on all the numbers, I should probably be fine, my [immediate] family should be fine. But I've got older relatives and family that I care about. I have older neighbors that I care about. These are the ones that are going to be hardest hit. And I don't want to be the person to bring the virus to them."