Not to worry, it's not mandatory.
Yet.
Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) was answering questions regarding whether hugs could be considered "close contact."
"It's a horrible thing to think that we would be here as the World Health Organization saying to people, ‘Don't hug each other.' It's terrible."
"It's terrible," he says, as he says it.
The WHO has been against hugging pretty consistently since the beginning of the holiday season.
"In November, U.K. chief medical officer Chris Whitty also told Britons that they shouldn't hug or kiss their elderly relatives during this year's holiday season 'if you want them to survive to be hugged again.'"
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, was unequivocal on the matter, noting that it can be,
"...hard to 'disentangle' how exactly the virus was spread."
Science is hard. So let's skip that part and go right to the recommendations.
What is it with the elite and hugs, anyway? Even before the pandemic.
Hugs, they're not for everyone
She also noted something else that may have escaped notice given the focus on hugs.
"[She] said most transmission happens among people who tend to spend a lot of time together sharing meals and indoor spaces, in workplaces or homes."
That is why in order to stop the transmission of the virus, we need lockdowns so people will spend a lot of time together sharing meals and indoor spaces, in workplaces or homes.
As long as you don't hug.
