"I am a hugger by nature," says Lakdawala. So that brings us back to the question: to hug or not to hug? "Hugging is as close as you can get."īy contrast, if you're outdoors, where airflow disperses those particles of pathogens, 15 minutes or more of contact might not be risky. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease doctor at Stanford University. "If the person is extremely infectious, being up-close to them indoors is very high risk," says Dr. Even less than five minutes of close exposure in a packed indoor room might be all it takes to catch COVID-19. That's a bit simplistic, says Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor at the Center for Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. A lot of people talk about 15 minutes of close contact putting you at risk – either a chunk of time or 15 minutes spread out. We've all heard from public health agencies that the longer you're exposed to somebody who might be contagious, the greater the risk that you'll get infected.
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Then there's the matter of how much time goes by during a close contact with someone. "Although, as we've learned with delta variant breakthrough transmission, infection is still possible in the vaccinated - although much less likely," Weatherhead notes. A vaccinated person who's infected will breathe out far fewer particles with pathogens and has greater barriers against getting infected. So we know closer contact with infected individuals will increase your risk of becoming infected."īut vaccination does offer protection. "This virus is transmitted through respiratory and aerosol droplets.
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Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. "The data itself hasn't changed," says Dr. So the question looms: For those who've been vaccinated, how up-close and personal can you get?įirst, let's consider how you catch COVID-19. He says he'll hug a friend who is vaccinated but otherwise prefers a fist bump. Both the vaccinated and unvaccinated hug and shake hands freely. Ifeanyi Nsofor, "most Nigerians have moved on as far as COVID-19 is concerned. The French have reportedly begun cheek kissing again – although not everyone feels comfortable resuming this venerable tradition.Īnd kissing isn't the only person-to-person contact that has come in for a pandemic rethink. But people are getting their shots around the world. It's not an equitable era in terms of vaccine rates. Now we're in a new era – the vaccine era. Early on in this global health crisis, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested curtailing the country's beloved cheek kiss to avoid spreading COVID-19.
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A kiss, even a kiss on the cheek, in the time of a pandemic makes people nervous. The lyrics of As Time Goes By are pretty famous – yet no longer hold true. Is it safe to hug others who aren't in my bubble if they're vaccinated, too? What about shaking hands with a stranger, say, at work.
#Im not an handshaker archive
If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here. To hug or not to hug? Experts say it depends on where you've been and your personal tolerance for risk.Įach week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis.