Do the Bump
With the spread of bird flu and other contagious diseases, more and more people are refusing to shake hands with others. The World Health Organization thus suggests people switch to the “elbow bump” in case of a flu epidemic. But Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine says the timing of encouraging people to do the bump is critical: start too early and people would give up too early. Start too late and, well, it’s too late. “What would backfire would be for you to say, ‘Start bumping elbows now.’ People would look at you as if you were from Mars.” (New York Times) ...Who cares what people like that think? They’ll be dead soon anyway.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 12