A White House health advisor has shared what he thinks the "new normal" will be for Americans after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
Anthony Fauci, 79, an immunologist and physician, has been at the forefront of the White House's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fronting press conferences alongside President Donald Trump.
Fauci was speaking in The Wall Street Podcast which was released on Tuesday when he said society should "forget about shaking hands".
During the pandemic, people have been using other forms of greetings to avoid contact and stop the spread of the virus, and Fauci says it should continue after the virus subsides.
"When you gradually come back [from a pandemic], you don't jump into it with both feet," Fauci said.
"You say, what are the things you could still do and still approach normal?
"One of them is absolute compulsive hand washing. The other is you don't ever shake anybody's hands.
"I don't think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you.
"Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease; it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country."
At Wednesday's press briefing he says while the idea of stopping the action sounds crazy "that's the way it's really got to be".
CNBC spoke to Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group and spokesperson for Infectious Diseases Society of America who says he's been trying to put an end to handshaking for nearly three decades.
"It's an outdated custom. Many cultures have learned that you can greet one another without touching each other."
He says when you shake someone's hand you often have "no idea" where that hand has been and what it has touched and you are exposing yourself to viruses and diseases, CNBC reported.
Poland says greetings have slowly adapted over time, "When men greeted other people [back in the day], they raised or tipped their hat," and society should now move to a new one which doesn't require human contact.
But for now, Fauci says life will take a while to get "back to normal" as COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States.
"It isn't like a light switch, on and off; it's a gradual pulling back on certain of the restrictions and getting society a bit back to normal. ... Bottom line, it's going to be gradual."
The nation has taken over as the epicentre of the virus with 465,300 confirmed cases, which is over 300,000 more than Italy which has the second-largest number of cases with 153,200.
New York City currently has the most deaths with 5150 of the country's 16,600.
