Amid coronavirus fears as the number of cases worldwide is now approaching 90,000 and 3,060 deaths, a motivational speaker and presentation coach Richard McCann introduced a new way to greet people instead of shaking hand by ‘air handshake’
Richard McCann posted a video of him that showed him ‘air handshake’ while hosting an event in Leeds last Saturday. McCann said the move was adopted because of the ‘unfolding coronavirus situation’.
Posting to his social media accounts, Mr McCann revealed the video and questioned whether or not he was being paranoid for not shaking the hands of those attending his £300 per-ticket event.
Claiming he had ‘improvised’ his greeting he said: ‘Not sure if I’m being paranoid but due to the unfolding Coronavirus situation I decided not to shake hands with the delegates here at one of my training events’.
Mr McCann told Dailymail UK that he wasn’t suggesting that people stop shaking hands with one another and added that he was trying to teach his clients how to be forward at events by offering their hand first.
Read: Coronavirus threat: Govt employees urged to avoid handshakes
He said putting your hand out first was a sign of confidence and added that he mentioned the coronavirus at his session last week as it was in the news, saying that someone extending their hand out to your first was a good way to make a good first impression.
The handshake is becoming a taboo these days among professional workers with the growing fear of the spread of coronavirus in the workplace.
Twitter users have also floated a trend ‘#StopShakingHands’ as the outbreak takes hold and Britons take steps to minimise the chances of catching the illness.
Many on social media praised both Mr McCann for not shaking hands with others.
Over the last few days many social media users have been sharing the #StopShakingHands message, as cases of the coronavirus in the UK hit 36 over the weekend.
‘LegShake’
A video clip has also gone viral on the internet where a man preferred not to shake his hand but leg with his friends as he greets them.
The man was seen in the video wearing a mask and coming out of his vehicle to save himself from the deadly coronavirus. One of his friends, walking from the other side was just about to shake hands when the duo taking a pause, realised it wasn’t a good idea, Gulf News reported.
Later, the two shook their legs to greet each other.
Have heard of Handshake but what LegShake greetings 😀😀!!! #CoronaVirus Outbreak… pic.twitter.com/KPRQzbDLrE
— Ke_Stanley (@IngeniousOne1) March 1, 2020
In Germany, even Chancellor Angela Merkel was shunned by her interior minister Horst Seehofer who refused to shake her hand at an event. Merkel had previously refused to shake the hands of attendees at an event in her own district due to the outbreak.
