Trump Suggests Americans Shouldn't Shake Hands Ever Again

President Donald Trump suggested that Americans should consider giving up the tradition of greeting each other with a handshake -- forever.

Trump has set a goal of returning Americans back to work by Easter, despite the coronavirus outbreak, but he said at a White House news conference on Thursday that they shouldn’t entirely abandon “social distancing” practices, especially shaking hands.

“Maybe people aren’t going to be shaking hands anymore,” Trump said, adding that he had discussed the practice with Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “He was saying the regular flu would be cut down by quite a bit if we didn’t do that, if we didn’t shake hands.”

The president has said he wasn’t much of a hand-shaker before he ran for political office. But he and Vice President Mike Pence have continued to shake hands with guests during White House events opened to the press during the coronavirus outbreak.