The curling handshake is a ritual so ensconced in the game that Bill McAnally isn’t sure when it began.

It’s a shorthand for good luck, good game, and we’re still friends, even if you beat me with that fluke of a double takeout in the last end.

McAnally is the general manager of the Royal Canadian Curling Club, tucked behind the intersection of Queen St. and Broadview Ave. Earlier this week, the club sent an email suggesting curlers take a pass on the tradition as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “Beginning immediately, we recommend that all curlers reduce and/or refrain from pre-game and post-game handshakes,” the email read. “Fist bumps, elbow taps or a simple head nod acknowledgment can be employed in place of handshakes.”

One of the ways coronaviruses spread is through close personal contact. But what happens when our instincts brush up against a global outbreak?

Human touch is ingrained in casual interactions: Meetings usually begin with handshakes. A friend you haven’t seen in a while merits a hug. An athletic achievement is celebrated with a high-five.

In Ontario this week, confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassed 20. It is not yet circulating locally, but Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said Friday that the city anticipates and is prepared for local transmission. Amid this growing concern, many in the GTA are making changes to everyday gestures and habits.

This week, the Anglican Diocese of Toronto stopped communal sharing of wine and suggested a smile instead of a handshake during the service. The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto has not changed liturgical practices, but is asking parishes to ensure a steady supply of hand sanitizer and soap for those who distribute communion.

In the sporting world, the Toronto Soccer Association has restricted handshakes, fist bumps and high-fives, and the NBA has advised teams to avoid high-fives with fans and strangers. French consular officials have abandoned the traditional kiss greeting at their Toronto office. Some lawyers and bankers are leading with their elbows on Bay Street — sometimes as an icebreaker, sometimes to mask the anxiety of not knowing exactly what the rules are these days.

B.C.’s provincial health officer has advised people to give up the handshake and try a smile, a bow, prayer hands, or direct eye contact while saying hello.Ontario’s medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said he doesn’t generally promote hand shaking during the flu season. “If you’re going to shake my hand, you don’t know what I did just before,” he said this week.

How to handle social customs amid fears of the coronavirus was a major topic at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference held in the city this week. The mining conference brought thousands to Toronto, and at cocktail parties, people were “confronted right away with what to do in a greeting,” said Jeremy Fraiberg, a corporate lawyer, partner, and co-chair of Osler’s mining group.

Some people used the moment as a chance to talk about COVID-19, offering an elbow or a fist bump. No new etiquette magically descended. Some people are still shaking hands, making a point of “displaying their courage,” he said.

“Others perhaps are joking, but behind the joke lies a tiny bit of anxiety and self-protection,” he said. “It’s a fascinating example of how quickly do cultural mores evolve?”

Alan Hutchison, an Osler partner based in Vancouver, said the ritual was interesting to observe at the conference. “There was a bit of a shadow boxing exercise as you figured out whether to shake hands, fist bump, elbow bump or just wave,” he wrote in an email. “The handshake was not a lost art and I would say there was almost an apologetic aspect to the fist bumpers. People are definitely aware of not infecting others and keeping themselves safe but I don’t think it is going to change social or business customs beyond a short blip.”

Tiffany Field, the director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, says that human touch helps create positive health effects. Field, an expert in developmental psychology who researches how therapies such as massage affect medical and psychological conditions, says that when you move the skin, through a handshake, a massage or a hug, the pressure sets off a bioelectric chain of events that puts the body in a more relaxed state, which in turn can help fight infection.

“You know how people prefer a firm handshake? That is because more of the pressure receptors are being stimulated, and its more relaxing than getting a real flimsy handshake,” she said.

With real concerns about the virus spreading through physical contact, Field suggests alternative ways to experience the benefits of touch like “brushing the body” with a loofah in the shower, rubbing a tennis ball over the limbs, and exercise. She also encourages touch within close familial settings, where you know hygiene factors.

She also noted there are major cultural differences when it comes to touch. Field referenced one study comparing adolescents in Miami and Paris. In Paris, kids were hugging each other, stroking each other’s backs, while in the U.S., the children were self-soothing, rubbing their knuckles, flipping their hair, and crossing their elbows.

“I think places like Paris are going to suffer more than we are, especially since they're saying we can’t greet each other by kissing on the cheek,” she said.

At the French consular office in Toronto, the traditional kiss greeting stopped this week. Consul-General Tudor Alexis said the abandonment of the custom is something staff are temporarily enduring as they switch to the less elegant elbow tap. Alexis noted that a French minister posted a photo of a footshake in Brussels, but that is not catching on at the local office.

“I mean, what if I didn’t calibrate my foot movement well and ended kicking a Canadian high official?” he wrote in an email. “Wouldn’t that be a diplomatic faux pas?”

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This is his first winter in Canada, and Alexis said he’s more judicious with the traditional French greeting to avoid getting sick in this colder climate. (So far, it has worked.) Before they dropped the custom entirely at his office, he had only been deploying the kiss greeting on special occasions.

The Royal Canadian Curling Club did not send out a similar handshake directive during the 2003 SARS crisis. But with social media, and the quick spread of information, several board members thought it better to be proactive, McAnally said. They are also raising their daily disinfection game for rock handles, door handles, tables and other common surfaces.

Taking off his curling shoes, club member Bill Jeffers didn’t think members would object to the temporary loss of the tradition. (By this time, one person had already emailed McAnally to suggest a moratorium on communal chip bowls, too.) Under-the-weather curlers have long favoured the elbow tap, and Jeffers used it a few weeks ago when he was getting over a cold.

“Why spread it if we can avoid it?” he says. But human instinct can be difficult to overcome. When another club member thanked him for filling in, he reached for Jeffers’s hand. (The email was still making the rounds.)

“I’m shaking hands,” Jeffers said, with a laugh. “We’re not supposed to anymore.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” his friend replied. “Quick, wash my hands!”