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https://www.hastingstribune.com/ap/a...8b5a48b6b.html

MINNEAPOLIS – As we emerge from the pandemic, we're starting to see the return of an age-old ritual: the handshake.
Many of us went a year or more without clasping someone else's hands. But as vaccination rates go up and social distancing restrictions fall, we're starting to press the flesh again.
"I am shaking people's hands when they offer it to me," said Sheila Nezhad, a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. Nezhad, who recently started in-person campaigning, has been exchanging fist bumps, elbow bumps and the traditional grip-and-grin, even though it was little disorienting at first to put 'er there. "It kind of felt like getting back on the bike after having not ridden one for a while," she said.
Not everyone is happy that the handshake is making its way back. Though it's a deeply ingrained way of expressing friendship and respect, some medical experts wish it were gone for good.
"I don't think we should ever shake hands again, to be honest with you," said White House health adviser Anthony Fauci back in April 2020. "Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease, it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country."
"It's never been safe," said Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic physician and professor specializing in infectious diseases and vaccines.
Handshaking carries the risk of transmitting a host of undesirable conditions, including norovirus, food poisoning and "hand-borne transmission of fecal bacteria," Poland said.
"We're not talking about a minor issue," he said. "Would you lick someone's hand?"
Handshaking may have started as an ancient custom to demonstrate to a stranger that you had no weapon in your hand. But "you are, in fact, bearing at some level, a bioweapon" on your unwashed hand, Poland said