There was a teacher in my elementary school that really
yelled at you if you sneezed into your hand. Turns out she was ahead of the times. Years later (a few
years ago) there was a big emphasis in making an effort to no longer sneeze into
your hand. Rather, we are now supposed to sneeze into our elbows or into the
inside of our coats or turtlenecks or someplace. Anyplace but on our hands,
apparently. I think this is all well and good, but it’s only half of the
equation. People are still getting
sick. The other half of the equation
involves alerting the other, innocent people in the room about the upcoming
sneeze. They need protection from the
inevitable escaping germs that the sneezer does not block, as well as from the
shock of the sneeze itself. In order to
give them adequate preparation time, I have begun announcing my sneezes in
advance when possible. You typically
know a little while in advance when that sneeze is coming. A simple “I believe
I’m going to sneeze in the next few seconds” gives the other people adequate
time to vacate the room or at least cover their faces in their elbows to keep these germs out. People have come to me afterwards and thanked me. Others have not returned to the room.
Regardless, I think by the end of this year, sneeze announcing will be
huge. Let’s all have a healthy 2016 and
let it begin with us.
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