During a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic caucus this morning where members discussed how best to address and combat the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, an attending physician offered some advice that was sure to shock some of them. He recommended that they discontinue touching during greetings and simply perform Star Trek‘s Vulcan salute, which is done by holding up an open palm facing the person you’re greeting and then parting your middle and ring fingers to form a “V” with two fingers on each side.
The gesture is an immensely popular signal that was coined by actor Leonard Nimoy for his character Spock in the original Star Trek series. He believed that the “Vulcans were a hand-oriented people.” The salute made its first appearance in the season 2 episode “Amok Time” way back in 1967 and was joined by the famous phrase “live long and prosper.”
This news is sure to excite those who proposed the idea online over the last few weeks as a replacement for handshakes. But for those in Washington, it may prove a bit troublesome seeing as the gesture is widely accepted as difficult to perform. A lot of people find it nearly impossible to part their fingers in the way needed, and even some actors on the set of Star Trek had to manually position their fingers off-camera prior to shooting any scene that required the salute.
With many countries scrambling to keep their citizens safe, companies being hit with manufacturing delays, and no vaccine coming in the near future, the coronavirus is proving to be quite the global mess. It’s now affected almost 120,000 people worldwide and caused over 4,000 deaths, with 800 of those cases taking place in the United States where the death toll has hit 27. Meanwhile, Italy is currently seeing rapidly increasing infection rates with over 10,000 cases reported alongside nearly 650 deaths, resulting in Premier Giuseppe Conte placing the entire country on lockdown on Monday.