07/06/2021

How to Navigate Changing Pandemic Etiquette Rules

Which behavior guidelines are acceptable seem to be in constant flux

The abrupt abandonment of handshakes and hugs. An expansion of personal space in public to six feet. And detailed conversations preceding any social plans about who else was invited and what risky behaviors they might have recently engaged in. Before the pandemic, any of these actions would have been considered rude, but over the past year, they became polite. Although etiquette has always had an undertone of safety first, during the pandemic, safety became the main point of politeness. More than 15 months, multiple lockdowns, and hundreds of millions of vaccine shots later, politeness is once again shifting as pandemic restrictions begin to scale back in America. For many people, this might feel like etiquette whiplash.

But politeness is always in flux—it doesn’t come and go so much as it morphs and adapts. For instance, when the well-known etiquette author, and my great-great-grandmother, Emily Post wrote her first book about politeness in 1922, a common practice at high-society dinner parties was to “turn a table”: The hostess would literally turn from speaking with the person on her right and begin to speak with the person on her left, and all the women at the table would follow suit. Today, we embrace free-flowing, omnidirectional conversation.

How we show politeness has also never been entirely universal. A friendly greeting might be ubiquitous, but what is considered the correct gesture to convey that sentiment—a handshake, fist bump, bow, or kiss on the cheek—might vary. Sometimes, what one person sees as considerate, another may find confusing or even offensive. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve had to state and restate our personal safety boundaries, wondering whether others will be sympathetic to our needs. You would think that we could come together over public safety, but this has become a political minefield.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Atlantic.