Hugging is such an essential expression of love and affection for many of us. As the lock downs start to ease and if we start meeting other people, especially our family and grandchildren, I thought this was good advice.
Apparently, “Affectionate touch is how our biological systems communicate to one another that we are safe, that we are loved, and that we are not alone' but “keeping hugs brief is particularly important because the risk of transmission increases with more prolonged contact.”
Dr. Marr, an aerosol scientist, calculated that the risk of exposure during a brief hug can be surprisingly low — even if you hugged a person who didn’t know they were infected and happened to cough.
The NY Times asked scientists who study airborne viruses to teach us the safest way to hug. Of course, it's up to each of us to decide the level of risk we are prepared to accept but here are their tips:
DON’T hug face-to-face
DON’T hug cheeks together, facing the same direction
I don’t know what country you live in but most places In North America have been on quarantine for 3 months considering that the covid-19 lasts rougjhky 14-21 days . We have been through many cycles of incubation, therefore most places are safe unless you travel , that’s the biggest threat.
Where I live we have had about 8 cases in the last 2 weeks , 3 were truck drivers and a family member with multiple routes through the US and the others were migrant farm workers Mexico / South America
I think we are pretty safe here overall but going amongst public I would. Still adhere to social distancing and wear a mask, wash hands as we do not know if those people have travelled.
My children do not go to daycare anymore and are not in school yet so not exposure , my wife and I work from home.
My children hug their grand parents.
I do my own due diligence and use common sense. I recommend people to do the same.
This is for when we start meeting people again Canuck. The U.K. is still practising lockdown and social distancing with us shielders unable to meet anyone not from our household except for 1 person outdoors at a distance of 2 metres.
Unfortunately parents and grandparents still cannot hugs their loved ones yet but we look forward to the day when we can. Even then I’d be wary of having any physical contact with anyone beyond my closest relatives.
Our levels are still pretty significant and physical affection has sadly been one of the casualties of this wretched virus.
Regards,
Newdawn
"an aerosol scientist"???? I'll have to look that one up...
You can have a full on hug, if you are both wearing giant plastic bags/clingfilm.....
I saw that yesterday and sent it to my daughters . One of them brought two of my adorable grandchildren ...the 5yr old cousins to my garden an hour ago for a masked knee hug . Did I cry ? Nope but I sure had a lump in my throat .
Well today in NZ we are back to Level 1 = near normal, with some precautions like border control sand I can tell you there was some careful hugging going on where I am!
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