Everyone is buzzing about H1N1(aka swine flu). At dinner tonight, one of my clients made a brilliant suggestion, which I think is worth vigorously pursing. Her idea was to stop the practice of shaking hands - at least in restaurants.
Think about it. You arrive at your restaurant and slip into the restroom to wash your hands of any germs you've picked up in the cab or on the metro on the way to lunch. But on the way to your table, you run into a friend or associate and you shake her hand. It's the polite thing to do. Whoops! Back to the bathroom before you pick up that dinner roll with your now potentially infected hand??
According to the CDC website, it is easy to catch a cold or the flu by shaking hands with someone who just used that hand to cover a sneeze. Viruses can stay alive for two hours or more on hands.
I suggest we start a social media, public health experiment right here in Washington, D.C. with the goal of getting a self-imposed ban on hand-shaking in restaurants for the month of May. Join this experiment by forwarding this blog, tweeting, or whatever else it is you do to spread the word. Over the next few days maybe someone will create a Facebook site for our campaign, and I know there are creative types out there that will design a cool logo that restaurants could place in their windows.
Join the campaign and spread the word, not the germs.
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