Items

• 2021-02-06

  Burnt Out Before Beginning

  January 2020 was going to be my year. I had gotten an internship in Pittsburgh, PA that only selected 200 kids out of the thousands of applicants. Not only did I get the internship, but I got it on the unit I wanted to be on, the Emergency Department. March of 2020 comes along. The pandemic has now hit the United States, and everyone panics. May of 2020 comes along. Still in quarantine and in lockdown. I had been out of my job for the past 2 months and was about to begin my internship. Although I was excited to get back to work, I never imagined that it would be as brutal as it was. Every morning at 6:30 am we would get screened at the door. Masks were given out, temperatures were taken, and the three health screening questions were asked. At first, no one came to the hospital. Everyone was still scared and didn’t want to come to the place that held confirmed COVID-19 positive patients. This lasted about a week. Then everyone began coming. Before we knew it we had more patients than staff and we didn’t have enough beds for everyone coming in. Patients would come in with a broken foot and next thing you knew they were COVID positive. Did we wear our mask properly around them? Did they cough on us? Did we maintain 6 feet apart? These were all the questions rambling through our heads once we had learned that a patient was positive after taking care of them all day under standard precautions. We didn’t have enough N-95 masks for everyone to wear, so you had one and that’s what you used all the time. The amount of PPE (personal protective equipment) was far less than we needed. The hospitals tried their best to get them, but sometimes we had to make do without it. At the time, not everyone could get swabbed. We didn’t have enough it’s for everyone so only those that had 3 major symptoms (fever, sore throat, body aches). This was before we knew the asymptomatic patients were so high in number. Every day we wore our masks for 13 plus hours. Every day we wore gloves and gowns for 13 plus hours. Every day we put our lives at risk to save everyone else for 13 plus hours. This is only a snippet of what healthcare members saw throughout this pandemic and are still seeing today. Within 4 months, I was burnt out from the pandemic. I graduate in May and I fear to see what the hospitals will be like then. In better words: wear your masks, get vaccinated if possible, and follow the guidelines. It may not harm some of you personally, but it is hurting your healthcare professionals every day that this pandemic lingers.
• 
  2020-05-11

  Canadian Shield makes face shields

  Canadian Shield is a company that makes face shields. They released this video showing the process.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Used PPE

  A photograph of the soiled PPE at St Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Alberta Distillery

  Post from Strathcona Spirits about specialized hand sanitizer.
• 
  2020-08-26

  Yukon Brewery

  A post from Yukon Brewing in August 2020 about their hand sanitizer.
• 
  2020-03-17

  Ontario Distillery

  This is a photograph from March 2020 showing the hand sanitizer made by Dillons Distillery.
• 2021-01

  An Old Gray Piece of Cloth

  Gabriel Rheaume’s Sensory history contribution to COVID-19 Archive I would like to submit my gray, cotton face mask to the COVID-19 Archive. It is perhaps not as the most important item, but certainly it is the most present item for me throughout this pandemic. At almost a full year into this adventure, everyone has a keen familiarity with and opinion of face masks. I got this one as a gift. It feels about the same as getting socks on Christmas, except more useful. I have used this thing every single day unless I forget it—which sends me into a chaotic panic. I am a teacher in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Our school district insists on teaching in person, despite having alarmingly high infection rates in our community. This mask is now part of my daily uniform, a non-negotiable. It serves as a role model for students. A sign that their health is of paramount concern to us. It is part of everything I do. I have dozens of paper replacements in my desk. Those aren’t as good. They straps hurt your ears. The cloth ones are better, more comfortable. I thought about getting one with my favorite band’s logo, but I am going to stick with this old reliable gray, cotton mask. The smell of this mask will haunt me the rest of my life. I wash it multiple times per week. It often smells like laundry detergent. That is a good thing. However, by the end of the day it often smells like whatever I had for lunch. The masks gets hot. It is blasted with my carbon dioxide for eight hours straight. It gets really bad when I have to lecture during the day. When you inhale sharply to talk, it sucks in the material. I’ve learned how to breathe differently when I have the mask on. Sometimes I just pinch the end and hold it with my fingers while I talk. I can rarely take it off. I panic if I forget to put it on when I leave my classroom to go anywhere. Who would have ever thought this little cloth mask would be so important? I often doubt that it is effective at preventing the spread or contraction of infection. I am certainly NOT an anti-masker. But it’s a piece of cloth. I guess that it’s better than nothing. This gray cotton face mask, sometimes imbued with the glorious smell of fresh linen in the breeze or Last night’s roast and mashed potatoes has become a source of loathing and resentment, but simultaneously an anti-viral security blanket (if only in my imagination). Yet, I can’t wait to get rid of this vile thing.
• 
  01/15/2021

  Parker Talbot Oral History, 2021/01/15

  A self-account of the exploding market of hand sanitizer and the smell thereof
• 2021-01-12

  COVID-19 one year ago and now

  When Covid was new, no one really knew much about it. When it came out they were a lot of rumors talking about how dangerous the virus was. Also talking about how the virus was created. The biggest rumor was that a man in china decided that he would eat a bat and because of that he got covid from eating the bat, then he spread it to a lot of people, this is how it was said covid was spread all around the world. When is started I didn't really think about it that much, I felt like people were over exaggerating it (and I still do). I honestly wasn't sure if the virus was even real and it may have been a hoax. Now that we have had covid for about a year these are my thoughts about it. I am honestly not sure how the virus was created, people say it was still from china, other people say it was created in a lab by the government so it's hard to say what is truth and what is false. I understand that for people that have underlying conditions this virus can be deadly but I honestly think and flu or cold can be deadly in various levels. I do think it is good to wear a mask and to say social distance for peoples protections but I do feel like shutting down economy was something that wasn't needed as it has closed down many restaurants and stores, etc. Those are my thoughts about covid one year ago and my thoughts about covid now.
• 2021-01-12

  Knowledge of Covid-19

  From the beginning of this pandemic it has been said that bats were the cause of this virus. This is similar to other coronavirus sicknesses. With more and more research of Covid-19 I have learned more about the novel coronavirus. I learned more about the efficacy of different masks and how they protect against the airborne travel of the virus. My understanding of how the disease spreads grew during the course of the pandemic. The information about the cause remained the same.
• 2020-08-08

  Sensory Limitations While Job Seeking in a COVID Environment

  In March of 2020 I made the decision to leave Active Duty Army and pursue a new career in the civilian world. I submitted my resignation and began a six month process to transition out. It was immediately after this drastic step that the effects of COVID-19 on our daily lives began. My state (Maryland) shut down, and my mission essential job that I was in the process of leaving required me to pick up the extra work from at-risk employees. The applications to different government agencies that I had submitted were placed on hold due to the inability of those agencies to conduct in-person events. With less time available, my ability to apply for more jobs was also limited. After a delay of four months, and with only a few more to go before inevitable unemployment, agencies slowly began reinstating their hiring processes. It was at this time that the sensory impacts of a COVID-19 hiring market began to show. Most smaller agencies resorted to telephonic interviews or at the most, video conference calls. Those that did ask for an in-person interview were still heavily controlled with COVID-19 risk mitigation practices. Regardless of the medium enacted, the effects on the senses were the same. Visual senses not withstanding (the inability to see my interviewer was disconcerting, but at least I got to wear jeans), the tactile and auditory senses were also greatly impacted. In every interview conducted pre-COVID, the procedures consisted of shaking hands at the beginning of an interview (i.e. establishing trust through that time-worn gesture), sitting in close proximity to an interviewer with whom you are able to hear clearly, and who can hear you clearly, and in whom you can read facial expressions indicating when you may have said too much or not enough. The interview would then be over and you would seal that act through a final handshake and a smile. None of these basic tenants of interviews occur during a COVID-19 mitigated interview. In my first interview with a federal law enforcement agency, my interview panel and myself were required to wear masks, I was welcomed into the room without any of the standard greetings (handshakes and smiles) and seated behind a plexiglass barrier 8-10 feet from any of the interviewers. Not only did the interview lack the physical interaction that ceremonially marks the beginning and end of the interview, but due to masks, the conduct of the interview was also strained. Questions from interviewers were difficult to hear and understand due to the distance, glass, and masks, therefore requiring awkward repetitions which cast doubt on my competence and confidence. My responses were likewise muffled, which led to doubts as to whether my answers were fully understood by the interviewers. Both assaults on the auditory ability and tactile senses taken for granted in a pre-COVID world lead to an autocatalytic attack on my nerves. The lack of hearing and the absence of a reassuring touch eroded any confidence I may have had going into the interview that would have otherwise remained until I left. COVID-19 mitigation measures reduced what is normally a very personal interaction between human beings to a robotic and numbing experience lacking in all the sensory elements that enables the humanity of an interview. I conducted six more interviews in similar limited sensory manners, eventually evolving my expectations and re-learning a process before finally securing a position.
• 
  2021-01-11

  The Smell of the Pandemic, Face Coverings in 2020

  One of the longest lasting memories for me of the Pandemic will be the olfactory association I will forever have between the smell of musty, soiled fabric and this period of time. The combination of coffee, toothpaste, sweat and laundry detergent was a defining one for me this year. As a high school teacher and coach, my days were long and required extensive periods of lecture based discussion and non negotiable face coverings. While the requirement was understandable from a safety perspective, the result was a facemask that always either smelled like it needed washing or had just been washed. For that reason, these scents will always remind me of this period
• 
  2020-12-01

  Melrose Wakefield Hospital COVID precautions

  One of my coworkers tested positive for COVID-19, so all the employees got tested to ensure we were all being safe at work. I think the photos I captured at Melrose Wakefield Hospital tells a story about all the precautions to stay safe and healthy in an unprecedented time. These photos respond to the needs and considerations of an ethical archive because it shows what precautions are being taken both inside and outside a hospital. In The Ethical Archivist, the author wrote about the ethics of acquisition, which documents have permanent or evidentiary value. I think these pictures may be seemingly unimportant to most people, but to historians this is data that shows what types of mandates and precautions were put in place during a worldwide pandemic.
• 
  2020-12-13

  Covid-19 Mental Health Interview from the Perspective of a Pharmacist

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Text Messages between my Mother and I.

  This is a small conversation between my mom and I when she went back to work during the beginning of quarantine. She works as a medical secretary at a local doctor’s office and works closely with sharing phones, computers, and other spaces. It was not until recently that there was a COVID scare following Thanksgiving, but, she tested negative since they are from a different department. This item connects to the week focusing on historical thinking on and off the web as this was never something that I would have considered sharing beyond my close group of friends since it feel mundane now. I think that this is an “Item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020” as we see her in full gear. While the precautions no longer have the dress or hair mask, she still wears the medical-grade mask with her gloves and face shield each day. Seeing people in action will humanize the pandemic and make it seem like something that truly happened than just another historical moment with accounts like this.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Nova Scotia government has spent $580M so far responding to the pandemic

  This article details how much money the government of Nova Scotia allocated to different sectors of the Nova Scotian economy during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03

  Putting On PPE

  A guide to properly putting on PPE
• 
  2020-03-16

  Switching Lanes: Autoparts manufacturers turn to making vital PPE

  A news article about the possibility of car parts manufacturers switching to making PPE in the early days of the pandemic
• 
  2020-12-13

  PPE Supply Store

  An online store selling PPE made in Canada
• 
  2020-12-28

  Canada's New Democratic Party will fight for 'massive investments' in northern housing

  New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will push the federal government to make “massive investments” in affordable and environmentally friendly housing as part of its Covid-19 recovery plan.
• 
  2020-03-23

  Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions Demands for worker protections

  A document describing the official position of the CFNU on reasonable precautions that should be put into place to prevent nurses and other healthcare workers getting Covid-19
• 
  2020-11

  Checklist for Putting On & Removing PPE

  Checklist for healthcare workers when putting PPE on and taking it off. Important to remember that many healthcare workers did not have to don PPE before the pandemic and needed guidance.
• 
  2020-05-07

  Canadian Shield makes 1,000,000 shields

  The Canadian Shield, a company started in Waterloo Region, was founded during the pandemic to create face shield for essential workers. In May 2020, they had already created 1,000,000 shields for essential workers.
• 
  2020-03-25

  At least 2 Toronto hospitals begin rationing protective gear as COVID-19 crisis deepens

  Early news article about rationing PPE.
• 
  2020

  N95 Standards

  The Canadian Dental Association describes in detail what an N95 is and how to spot counterfeits. This is crucial as N95 must be strictly tested to ensure they are filtering properly.
• 
  2020-04-06

  Anxieties over COVID-19 and possible PPE shortages prompting some health care workers to draft wills

  Discussion with Dr. Michelle Cohen about the dangers of working in the hospitals during COVID and her concerns over PPE shortages.
• 
  2020-04-08

  Sunnybrook is re-processing N95 masks, should the need for use arise

  Sunnybrook Hospital began researching how to sterilize masks in April 2020 as the PPE shortages had become so severe. In the video, Dr. Jerome Leis explains the research.
• 
  2020-10-13

  Students Sell Cloth Masks

  A group of Canadian university students founded a mask making company in April 2020. In October 2020, they reached 25,000 masks sold. The masks are made in Canada.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Quebec Distillery

  Cirka Distilleries began producing hand sanitizer. In this post, they request contacts with companies that provide bottles and aloe.
• 
  2020-04-28

  PPE Supply April 2020

  This is an infographic from the Canadian Medical Association analyzing the supply of PPE in Canada. The graphic shows the supply stock and the affect the lack of supplies has on the mental health of healthcare workers.
• 
  2020-05-26

  Isolation Gown Photograph

  Hospital CEO Patrick Gaskin takes a photo in an isolation gown created by Barbarian Sportswear in Kitchener, Ontario. Barbarian Sportswear began manufacturing isolation gowns in response to the need for PPE.
• 
  2020-12-08

  Distillers scrambled to make hand sanitizer for free. Then the federal government moved on

  Article discussing hand sanitizer production during the COVID-19 pandemic
• 
  2020-07-03

  Coronavirus: Le Château begins manufacturing 500,000 hospital gowns

  This article talks about retailers making PPE and by doing so they are allowing workers to keep working
• 
  2020-12-10

  First Flight in 9 Months

  I took a flight today for the first time in 9 months home to Colorado. My protection was a mask and a face shield, but this person I saw had a full suit of protection on. The flight I was on turned out to be full, and almost every row had all three passengers filled. I was not expecting this, and it was incredibly anxiety provoking. Nevertheless, I made it home to my family and I will wait to see my grandma and friends until I get tested.
• 
  2020-12-07

  Healthcare Education in the Covid-19 Pandemic

  These are my students who are training at Northeastern University to become Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) The pandemic has created restrictions that have made training the healthcare providers of tomorrow more challenging than ever before. Students must be in full personal protective equipment including a facemask, faceshield, gown, and gloves. Between faceshield fogging, trouble breathing in the masks during more rigorous physical components to training, and many other obstacles to their learning, the students have shown inspiring levels of resilience. Their strength during these difficult times serves as a constant reminder to me of the ability of the human spirit to overcome any and all challenges, and inspires me to continue to try and find ways to mitigate the effects of the challenges due to the pandemic. Students deserve a proper education and experience, and it is up to educators to match their students efforts in overcoming the barriers that Covid-19 has constructed.
• 
  12/03/2020

  Aidan McNaughton Oral History, 2020/12/03

  Washington county in Oregon has established several COVID-19 quarantine centers in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus among the community. A number of local motels have been converted to such facilities. Aidan is an EMT at one such motel, and agreed to be interviewed about his experience.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Teaching...during a pandemic

  The story is about how COVID-19 has affected the educational system.
• 
  2020-10-23

  Voluntary Isolation Motel EMT

  Several counties across Oregon have coordinated with local motels to establish voluntary isolation shelters in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. Each location is staffed with city personnel to manage admittance and discharge, while EMTs on staff conduct routine medical monitoring to patients. My boyfriend works in one of these shelters, and sent me this picture of him in his full PPE getup before making morning rounds. The shelter's capacity varies a lot week by week, and anywhere from 1-20 COVID positive patients may be staying there at any given point. This particular motel intakes prisoners who need to do a 2 week quarantine before being released, but also serves non-incarcerated people who have tested positive.
• 2020-11-20

  Interview with two healthcare workers during the pandemic

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
• 
  2020-03-30

  Sewing Masks for Friends and Family

  There was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the pandemic. I was anxious for my family and friends, especially for the nurses in my life who didn’t have any face masks. Once my mom and I saw on the news that cloth masks were an acceptable form of PPE, we knew exactly what to do. We busted out our library of fabric that we had collected over the years and dusted off our sewing machines. My grandma taught my mom to sew, and my mom passed the skill down to me. We started off making free masks for my friend’s sister and her fellow nurses. None of our other friends or relatives knew how to sew and when word got out that we were making masks, the orders started pouring in. My mom, brother, and I relied heavily on our crafting skills in order to fill custom orders. During the first month of the mask making craze, it was difficult to buy fabric that our friends were requesting. Solid black, Spurs, Cowboys, and dark colored fabrics as well as elastic were hard to find. Furthermore, Joann’s had limited hours and their best fabrics were sold out online and in-stores. My brother printed custom images on heat transfer vinyl that I would then press onto the fabric, and I bought bedsheets and dyed fabric to create colors that we didn’t have in stock. My mom and I already had a bad habit of buying fabric for no reason, and now that we have an actual purpose our collection has grown even more. I look for fabric that suits the personality of my friends and try to find prints that are cute and festive for each season. My friends and family will own wear masks that my mom and I have made. I think they take comfort in knowing each mask was made especially for them. As for my mom and I, we are relieved in knowing that our loved ones are protected with masks that fit their personalities.
• 
  2020-08-14

  Texas prison system still tops US in virus cases, as deaths and criticism mount

  A father who has been incarcerated for 30 years holds a baby prior to imprisonment; this man died in prison without seeing his family during the last months of his life.
• 
  2020-11-05

  Doctor Shares Photo Of Himself Ready To Work On The Covid Floor

  A doctor shares a photo as he prepares for a shift of taking care of coronavirus patients. He is in full PPE.
• 
  2020-05-25

  Jewish Melbourne: Fella Hamilton makes PPE

  The Australian Jewish News reported on Fella Hamilton making PPE: "WITH delays of several weeks in the arrival of imported masks, surgical gowns and scrubs to manage COVID-19, an Australian garment label founded by a Holocaust survivor has stepped up, converting its facilities to manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) wearables. The Fella Hamilton company has responded to an Australian government call for factories to retool to make products that help the fight against COVID-19. Sharon Hamilton, CEO, and her husband David, son of founder Fella Hamilton, decided to take action, switching fashion wear production at their Melbourne factory to PPE products." "Sharon said Jewish doctors have helped the company design isolation gowns now in use at Cabrini Health Australia and other private hospitals in Melbourne, and a WA aged-care provider."
• 
  2020-10-30

  Deciding Not to Fear or Hate Every New Day

  It can be hard to fall asleep when you fear or hate tomorrow. Looking back on these past days, weeks, and months, there have been times when it was hard to fall asleep. Still, I’m amazed that most of my “tomorrows” have been exciting, filled with (a few) people I love, and promising something new. to have this. In light of news-worthy narratives, I feel amazingly blessed. That’s not to say I didn’t have to adapt. “You can’t come into work, and I don’t know when you will be able to, and I don’t know when you can be safe, and I…” But it wasn’t me I was worried about as my (former) boss rambled on. I was young. I didn’t have a family to support. In that moment, it didn’t matter that I lost my longed-for position at the archives of my alma mater; my life hadn’t been going as planned for a while. The truth of the matter was that in that moment, I was loved by my house-mates, I had enough food, I had enough in savings. Payments could wait just long enough. And, somehow, it was just enough. I was immediately able to work in part and serve in whole as a nanny and tutor for an essential-worker’s family. With more open time and open space, calls with my Nonni and Zoom calls with other family members let my heart open up the folded, selfish areas that I had lustfully kept to myself. I had to - no, got to - make the rest of my time proactive. Practice French. Take on contracted research. Learn dance choreography, teach salsa lessons virtually, and take a few risky health situations seriously. Every day of this worldwide crisis promises more ways - or perhaps dares me? - to live more richly. Life becomes more about each day and each human, and less about my time and my goals and my inadequacies. UNPOPULAR SENTIMENT: I don’t care about the pandemic, I really don’t. Not personally, at least. In love, I will absolutely wear masks and socially distance and refrain from travelling, but for me, life is meant to be lived in each precious, terminal breath, and I am not promised to be given security, health, love, passion, joy, and peace. It is in this loud silence that has descended on the globe, I’ve been able to love the unloved, serve the neglected, and deepen my empathy for those with whose background is different than mine. My keenest struggle is “home.” In the lessening of physical relationships, a yearning for a home even truer than my space and my people continues to grow in me. A “home” that embraces my soul, where I can work, thrive, and rest. The less I care one-dimensionally about success or failure, and the more I care for people, the keener this desire becomes. I don’t know when that will be fulfilled, but I have hope. Hope enough that I won’t always fear or hate tomorrow that I can’t fall asleep. Although of late, the origins of falling asleep typically lie in chocolate… It’s hard refusing those red-wrapped cocoa velvet symphonies!
• 
  2020-10-27

  Its Everywhere!

  The effects of the pandemic can be seen in the most unexpected places!
• 
  2020-08-08

  HMH Nurses Working 12-hour Shifts during COVID

  This is a news article telling how nurses since March 20, 2020 nurses have had had their hands full with covid patients. On a typical day, they have between five to eight patients. Interviewed was Kristie Polly, an ICU nurse. She says she tries to provide them with the best of care especially since the patient is not able to be with family during their stay. She wants the community to know that during their time in the hospital goes above and beyond for the patient in the absence of family and does their best to keep the family informed of the patient's progress or connect the patient and family virtually with iPads. The hospital and staff do not want the patient to feel alone. Having seen firsthand the effects of the virus she stresses the importance to the community of wearing face masks, hand washing, and social distancing. The staff has adapted to the pandemic in their guidelines and PPE, testing, and treatment. In addition to caring for their patients, the staff is mindful to take care of themselves so that they may take care of their patients. Nathan Ernst, the Intensive Care manager said that they are honored to provide care to the community and will continue to do everything possible to give the best care.
• 
  2020-07-17

  Travel Nurses Share Their Story

  This article shows what things are like on the front lines during a pandemic. In the article a nurse states that they literally had to choose who was going to live, and who was going to die. They had to wear the same PPE for days at a time; even when there were feces and blood on them. There is a lot of information about what life has been like for nurses on the frontline and I think that needs to be heard.
• 
  2020-07-28

  3D Printed, P100 Mask for COVID Nurses

  This is a video my sister sent me of her first day with the P100 mask. It is a 3D printed mask that a department at her hospital have been making themselves because of the shortage of PPE. Every nurse gets one of these and the filters on them are replaceable (roughly 3 months before replacement filters are needed). They are very tight so nurses apply gel stickers around the seal to prevent bruising. They are so new to the unit that some nurses and techs have been getting bad dermatitis on their skin, so their is still some improvements to be made but because of the severity of the situation comfort is overlooked.
• 
  2020-10-25

  Pockets Full of PPE

  This is a photograph I took when I was clearing out my pockets to wash my uniforms. I work in Law Enforcement, and due to the nature of our work, we are always needing to refresh our PPE and have it ready to go at a moments notice. I hadn't realized how much more often I find myself needing gloves until I noticed the 'Glove Mountain' that has formed on my dryer... Almost all my pockets had gloves or extra mask in them.. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure... #GloveUp #MaskUp
• 2020-10-24

  Into the wild

  Going out is odd. It feels like a battle zone. Is it worth the risk? The virus death rate has lowered significantly... are the masks working? I run errands now, amongst people. We no longer shake hands. Did our interaction rate drop? Perhaps it's the defensive tactics. Washing hands. Sanitizing. maybe most of the weak died... Winter is approaching.