As the virus keeps its grip, we are starting to use new rituals.
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When top Namadgi park ranger Brett McNamara and I met the other day, we stood apart and bowed, just like they do in Korea and Japan.
He put his hands together in a grand prayer-like gesture; I was more restrained, arms straight down and an elegant bow from the waist.
We agreed it was a much better way of greeting than shaking hands, even back in those nearly forgotten times when you could trust the cleanliness of the hands of others. I hope it catches on when the curse is off us.
All these rituals of greeting are wrapped in myth.
Legend has it we shake hands to show we aren't carrying weapons. And we shake with our right hand to show we aren't about to draw our swords. It may be why shaking hands seems more of a male thing.
Maybe.
It's alleged we say "bless you" after a sneeze as a throwback to some plague or other (even though we don't say it after a cough which actually is a symptom of plague).
The Romans definitely said something to people who sneezed because a Latin text from 77 AD mentions it.
In 1526, Erasmus wrote: "To one that Sneezes. May it be lucky and happy to you. God keep you. May it be for your Health. God bless it to you."
In 1688, John Aubrey wrote: "We have a Custom, that when one sneezes, every one else puts off his hat, and bows, and cries God bless ye Sir."
And now we have a new ritual: walking around Lake Burley Griffin in the same, clock-wise direction.
On this the reasoning is stronger. The idea has been adopted in Canada on the basis that people who walk in a flow are less likely to bump into each other.
But the same direction isn't a cast-iron prevention. A team of Belgian and Dutch scientists did aerodynamic studies in wind tunnels and found people who walk, run and cycle actually spray their germs a lot further than the regulation 1.5 metres.
That distance works for two people standing in still air but not when there's wind and people in motion.
So what should you do as you circle Lake Burley Griffin?
The scientists in their scientist-ish style advise the safest way to walk. It is "either by avoiding to walk or run in the slipstream of the leading person, and keeping the 1.5 metres distance in staggered or side by side arrangement, or by keeping larger social distances, where the distances increase with the walking or running speed".
In other words, side by side is better (though not for people behind you) and keep a good distance from cyclists and runners. Distance is always good.
They recommend keeping five metres away from fast walkers, 10 metres from runners and even further from fast cyclists.
Which prompts the thought: is it time to ban fast-moving people in Lycra from footpaths?
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
