As I type this, the delta variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus is cutting its way through the population of unvaccinated people in the US like the proverbial bull in a China shop, and maybe it’s a little too early to start thinking about how we are going to live after the pandemic is over. I think not, though. The pandemic has forced most of us to take a second glance at our human-to-human interactions, and I present below a list of several things I have thought quite a bit about over the past few months, and about how they can be used to our benefit. Humans are by nature a gregarious bunch, and we enjoy our camaraderie with fellow human beings. But getting too close to one another sets up such an easy way for the virus to spread that we have been forced to step back from ourselves whenever we converse, and make our person-to-person contacts from a distance. Either literally, or through electronic means.
But the coronavirus is only a model for the alteration of human behavior. Coronavirus is not the only virus, or, in reality the only infectious agent that can be spread from human to human through close personal contact. Other viruses and some bacteria, most especially influenza virus, but also the common cold virus, measles virus, mumps virus, respiratory syncytial virus, the bacteria of diphtheria, meningitis, pneumonia, and strep throat, as well as others which I won’t list here, are spread through the same mechanisms. We have to watch ourselves, and limit personal contact as much as possible. That will only help in the long run, though some of what I suggest below may be difficult to implement on a long-term basis. So I present, then, a few things we can do–and I present these for use on a permanent basis–to limit the spread of infectious diseases.
- No more shaking hands. Fist bumps are acceptable, though elbow bumps are even better. The chances of spreading an infectious agent through your elbows is ridiculously small.
- Always push the button on the pole at an intersection when you want to cross the street with your elbow, or at least with a gloved hand.
- Always take your own disinfectant wipes to the store, and wipe down the handle of the cart thoroughly before using. In my experience, the wipes the grocery stores provide are way less than satisfactory.
- Always keep your face mask in the car, or keep it with you when you go out if you don’t drive. You may not need it at home, but at a large indoor gathering, it can be important.
- Always keep gloves (such as latex or nitrile) in the car to use when pumping gas. I strongly recommend against pumping gas barehanded. You don’t know who handled that pump before you. And take the gloves off before you get back in the car.
- Always wash your hands when returning from a store.
- When over at someone else’s house, let the host use the TV remote. Depending on the situation, masks may not be required, but keep one handy just in case.
- Stay six feet away from others during the influenza season. Keep in mind the similarity between coronavirus and influenza virus. They’re spread the same way, and actions we take to limit one work for the other.
- Use the knuckle of your hand, or the back of your hand when pushing the button on an elevator. Never use the front of your finger. God only knows what’s on that button.
- Get a flu shot every year. And a coronavirus shot. And all your other immunizations.
- Disinfect any computer keyboard you come across. Especially in a library. Use your own disinfectant wipe.
- Don’t use any other cell phone unless you wipe it down with a disinfectant wipe. [Note: disinfectant wipes leave an object wet. Drying it with a clean, dry cloth is okay. as long as it’s your cloth.]
- It should be obvious by now that you will have to keep disinfectant wipes close at hand all the time. I don’t recommend keeping them in the car during the summer because I don’t know what the heat in a closed car will do the the disinfectant, especially day-after-day during a long summer. [Note: I kept a can of wipes in the car this summer, and the top popped open one day, and by the time I needed to use them a few days later, the wipes had dried out.]
- One of the dirtiest things in our society is money. Especially paper money. Paper money changes hands so often in its lifetime (which may be years) that it could be infected with almost anything, including chemicals and drugs such as CBD and/or fentanyl. I doubt that it will be possible to disinfect paper money because I’m not sure what repeated wiping with the disinfectant will do to the inks on the paper. The best thing you can do after handling paper money is to wash your hands or use a disinfectant wipe. Never put paper money close to your face.
- I doubt that it will be necessary to wear a mask in public on any sort of regular basis except during the flu season. So get a flu shot. [Granted, the flu vaccine is not always very effective, but if you get a shot every year, immunity can build up.] Never leave yourself to the mercy of others. Never assume others will get a shot, so you don’t need to. That only invites disaster.
Okay, these may not be the only things we need to do to keep ourselves safe from infectious agents, but if you use your own judgement and a little common sense we can keep infectious agents from becoming a serious menace to society. If you want to buy an old ICBM silo on the plains of North Dakota, and convert it into a home and live there totally away from society and have everything you need to live delivered, then go ahead. The rest of us will follow the above and other suggestions and live reasonably normal lives. As normal as we can, given that things have changed. Seriously.