You cannot sneeze in public any more without risking glares – but I’ve just eaten this bowl of hot wings | Brigid Delaney
What if you have tested negative for Covid and are just a little poorly? Should you stay home too?
It used to be that you'd get a bit of a cold - a wee sniffle - and be sent on your way with a hanky tucked into your sleeve and a packet of Butter Menthols in your pocket. You and your cold would then just go about your day, a little more slowly - the only difference being that periodically you would eject a quantity of mucus through the air, sometimes with dramatic sound effects (ahhhhh - ahh ... ahhhhh - CHOOOOOO") and the contents of this expulsion would hopefully land in your hanky, which you would then put back up your sleeve.
No one would bat an eyelid as you managed your secretions on the street, in a restaurant, in the supermarket. In fact when you sneezed, people - often strangers - would turn to you and benevolently say, Bless you".
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