While numerous outlets have reported the death of the handshake, including this very blog, a recent article in Bloomberg said that if history is any indication, rumors of its demise have been gravely exaggerated. After all, look at kissing.

Through centuries of plagues and pandemics in Europe, there have been numerous times when a kiss hello was discouraged or even banned, and yet every time, the tradition has kept coming back. Henry VI banned it in 1439 to combat the plague, but by the time 1499 rolled around, observers noted that people were kissing everywhere. In the late 1500s, during another great plague in England, kissing once more fell out of favor, being replaced with waving or curtsying. But once more, it didn't last, and by the time the Victorian era emerged, the kiss hello once more was extremely common.

With this in mind, the article argues that the handshake isn't dead so much as just resting. When the virus is no longer a concern, it said, it is highly likely that people will once more resume shaking hands, and eventually people will forget it had ever fallen out of favor in the first place.