The media terrorism accompanying the pandemic sometimes suggests extreme solutions to avoid coronavirus infection, without remembering that this infinitesimal, treacherous virus knows how to find a thousand opportunities to infiltrate into our body and infect us, with a more or less frightening viral load.
In this scenario, the last resort of Contactless, not touching anything or anyone, seems to be an increasingly practicable way confronted with many solutions that creativity proposes. Well.
Instead of leafing through communitarian newspapers and magazines, with the dangerous gesture of wetting one’s finger, digital editions on your own device or computer shall be used. Be careful to sign: either e-signatures and if not woe to use the kindly offered ballpoint pen, one never knows, therefore all provided of personal pen and jealously guarded and disinfected.
Already in everyday use credit cards that you just have to bring closer to the Pos avoiding money exchange, even worse, return coins and banknotes. Up to € 50 (in a little while) this also prevents entering the Pin, which remains an unpleasant contact opportunity. It would be better an authorization with facial or body recognition. In fact, there are already car parks which detect the guest only by framing the hand and customs barriers that scan your face as you cross them, no need to leaf through passports. Recent news is the new system at Linate airport to get through security, including bags, without touching anything.
Temperature is taken with laser, face masks and visors avoid cheeks and lips contact for an affectionate or hearty kiss, winter and fear will bring back the touch-but-I-don’t-get-infected gloves protection. If we then add glasses to avoid unintentionally rubbing the eyes, masking is complete. And we complained about women with niqab or Islamic headscarf lack of recognition!
The no-touch social life is heavily penalized. It is forbidden to even nibble on your spouse’s plate (friends are already excluded because it’s no longer possible to have dinner with them), drink from the same glass and, when it is allowed to go to the cinema, it is impossible to share popcorn also given the mandatory distance.
Students with their first love lose light touches and gentle approaches. Sex? Here it is a bit difficult: it’s better not to touch, so theoretically no preliminaries but protections of all kinds, recommended by busy doctors or permanent partner or do-it-yourself.
Shopping is done on the computer without touching anything, and in this way all kinds of purchases, from the cat litter to very expensive luxury items with digital delivery.
Domotics and voice assistants know how to act in our place without letting us lift a finger. Siri and other virtual assistants of our devices find an explanation for everything: an address a date and where you parked the car without letting you touch a sheet, Google or Amazon smart speakers turn the house into a smart-home through home  Wi-Fi and open close, light up, heat, change channels and other functions, even with your hands in your pockets, with your voice command only (they are easy to install and are cheap). Even by car an assistant endowed with artificial intelligence can help in the journey planning and control through the on-board computer, just talk and it will perform.
On a higher level of technology and performance, even surgeons with golden hands no longer operate in front of you, but from the next room, doctors check on you and make diagnoses and prescriptions through WhatsApp, only the dentist has to put his hands in patient’s mouth, but they’re usually so protected that contact is just a guess.
Solutions to isolate ourselves from contagion see technologists and designers on the field: we move from the bubble that wraps you up together with your small personal environment, to space helmets to wear in order to feel safe even in a crowd.
The list would be much longer and unstoppable, but we stop here. Is there a future for us of single individuals in constant isolation where even a caress or a handshake are banned unless we have first seen tests or negative swabs to the virus of the moment? We hope it will be a bad prospect destined to end quickly and to give us back our humanity. Including some drawbacks.