To be clear, I have avoided most handshakes over the past 6 months, both in personal situations and at the workplace. But, I do feel that this will return as a more normal practice. I am not one who requires handshakes, but I will give one if someone else is comfortable with it. I certainly do not look down on someone who does not want to shake hands.
Hugs in the workplace, on the other hand - probably not a normal practice.
My sons have been frequently complemented on their handshaking greetings. My husband taught them to do that when they were itty-bitty and I have had countless adults quietly comment on what a pleasure it was to meet such “a nice young man.”
Losing the handshake would grieve me.
I have always hated handshakes and hugs. I’ll be happy to see those gone! (I mean hugs by non family members)
Ya early on in the pandemic a person was totally offended when I would not shake their hand 
Like I hated then before, you really think I am going to do it now?!
My niece doesn’t like hugging - and has a mom that Pre-Pandemic was always telling her to hug people. Like don’t force a kid to hug strangers! (stranger to the kid, obviously the parent knows the person)
I wouldn’t miss handshakes either. One less thing with which to discriminate.
I miss handshakes and I hope they return. I think in my part of the country they will. In our region, they are still so engrained in our cultural practices of demonstrating welcome, respect, confidence, and trustworthiness to each other in our interactions that I think they will return. Even 6 months later, it is one of the few things I still instinctively go to do that I have to catch myself on and force myself to stop.
I would be happy if the hugging except for close friends and family never came back. I find it so awkward. But I have many friends that are huggers and just hate that they can’t go around hugging people right now.
I can’t wait for crowds to come back. Sporting events without the roar of the crowd and the collective experience of the ups and downs of the competition just aren’t the same. Live music without the crowd experience just isn’t the same. The collective experience adds something you just can’t get otherwise. I am grateful we can still do many things because we are going without the crowd component but can’t wait for it to return. This weekend is the Kentucky Derby. Already weird because it was postponed to September. But I can’t imagine a Derby where I’m not brought to tears as the whole crowd sings My Old Kentucky Home together or where the horses and jockeys aren’t hit with the wall of sound as they turn the track towards the crowd. I’m glad the race is happening in some way. I can’t wait for it to be much closer to normal.
I think there is a bit of double-standard about this…although, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m okay with some such double-standards. But in general, when a hug in the workplace (or elsewhere outside of family and close friends) is initiated by a female, it feels acceptable, even if not necessarily “normal”. But if a male initiates a hug, I think that’s when it is much more than awkward and just shouldn’t be a thing at all.
This is pretty much what I see in practice. Any hugging I’ve seen or experienced in the workplace has always been initiated by women.
I work with mostly men, it only happened with the older male sales rep once. Ive never seen a woman do it tho.
In NYT Sunday ed… Many Catholic Schools are shuttering permanently. Already struggling pre-covid many cannot open for the coming school year.
The number of times someone has said to me shortly after shaking my hand … sorry I’m so tired, I’m fighting the flu. Drives me nuts!
I’ve actually found the opposite. I’m not a hugger, but I find men coming in for a hug when I meet them. Why? Who knows. DH does it without thinking because that’s the business culture here.
And it’s a hug for the women only. Two men never hug. They shake hands. But men will come in for a hug with a woman. Actually, except for close friends/family, I’ve never had another woman try to hug me either. Very much a double standard and it needs to go.
Interesting. My niece goes to one in Texas. (My SIL is Catholic)
Where I live they are publicly funded. When you do your property taxes you choose public or catholic.
During my Feb trip this year, while no one was currently concerned about COVID ( even though we know it was spreading in the states during this time), I saw most people skip washing hands.
When I came back, I felt like I became a germaphobe, as I stopped shaking peoples hands and was more cognizant or touching my face throughout the day. I’m assuming people will quickly go back to their normal behavior of washing hands only when they bathe.
Gross, but probably true! I hope hand shaking disappears forever though
This is 
Im not in the medical field but still probably was my hands every hour at work and 100 times while Im cooking, before I eat anything, after I eat anything, just before bed. This really does need to be stressed to younger people as thats when habits start more often.
^^This
Handshaking is gross. It’s often awkward. It often feels gross. And people don’t wash their hands as much as they should — and now you’ve just touched them. Eww.
No thanks.
I was a preschool teacher until recently. I made all of my students wash their hands when they came into the room for the day, when we came in from outside, before and after any meal/snack, and also between circle time and free centers, and of course after the bathroom OR if I caught them picking their nose. I believe I am the only teacher there who did this, because my “helper” would often get frustrated/confused/annoyed at this regimen. The exception was if we were being observed, it seemed like all of the teachers abided then, but their students were obviously not used to it whereas mine were (we even had a handwashing song to sing to make sure they did it long enough and remembered the steps) I agree, these habits need to be taught young, it’s basic hygiene! I went from teaching preschool to teaching college, and I assure you those students did not wash their hands as often as I’d like 
I tend to agree with this. I had always thought it to be awkward, as you have to guess how long to hold and how hard to grip to be appropriate for the person and the situation. I didn’t give the germ aspect of it as much thought as I do now after all of this.
Huh. That’s not what we are seeing around here. So many parochial schools are on waitlists.
Same way in MN. Private school enrollments are way up, as they are having in-person school days, and many families want their kids to be in schools not online/hybrid.
Yep. We are in MN too. My nephews in WI got in to parochial school at the last minute after having gone on a waitlist. The catholic high school in our city here is at capacity and my oldest DD enrolled last minute at a Christian high school just down the road. I’m sure they are very close to capacity. Lots of people here are opting for private schools or switching to homeschooling (not distance learning through the districts).