Day before yesterday Etiquetteer posted on Instagram about (how unusual) the importance of Lovely Notes of Thanks. And a couple questions appeared below that post from a dear friend and reader:
Dear Etiquetteer:
But what about a) risk of transmission [of the coronavirus] via contaminated post, and b) impact on the environment?
Dear Friend and Reader:
Happily, the Centers for Disease Control has an answer to your first question already on its helpful COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions page. Under “Running Essential Errands,” the CDC recommends “After collecting mail from a post office or home mailbox, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.” You’ll find additional information about the risk of transmission through mail and packages on this page at Hackensack Meridian Health.
So Etiquetteer is not going to let you use possible risk of transmission as an excuse to get out of writing a Lovely Note of Thanks unless you have actually tested positive for or have been taken ill by the coronavirus.
As to the environmental impact of paper correspondence, Donna Harman* wrote in the New York Times back in 2012, “ . . . as more information becomes available about the environmental footprint of data centers, computers and other personal devices, we’re seeing that no form of communication is without environmental impact.” For instance, just yesterday Apple pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030. So no matter how you correspond, there’s an impact. Etiquetteer’s not going to let you use that as an excuse not to send a Lovely Note either.
The positive environmental impact handwritten correspondence has is on the mental health of its recipient, and therefore on the domestic environment of that person and anyone else living there. Etiquetteer received a beautiful Lovely Note of Thanks this week, and let Etiquetteer tell you, it made all the difference!
Now, as long as Etiquetteer is ferreting out Science to back up Etiquette, let’s turn to the most explosive issue of the year, wearing masks to prevent spread of the coronavirus. Skeptics still abound, posting questions about where the scientific justification is for this practice. Once again, the CDC is the place to start for chapter and verse. Their page “Considerations for Wearing Cloth Face Coverings” states “Cloth face coverings are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the cloth face covering coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice.”
Since the virus is thought to be transmitted by respiratory droplets, what, then, could be more Perfectly Proper than to prevent them flying about by wearing a mask? Read here the July 14 call from the CDC for all Americans to wear masks. The CDC also cites a lot of recent studies about virus transmission for those inclined to research further. Etiquetteer, who already has a healthy respect for Science, does not feel the need to delve into them. But if you feel the need, now you have a direct link . . . and you can also harness the power of the internet on your own quest for knowledge if you’d like other sources.
In the meantime, hush up and mask up! It is the only Perfectly Proper thing to do this year.
*Ms. Harman wrote an article in her capacity as president and chief executive of the American Forest and Paper Association. Yes, Etiquetteer is aware that this is a trade group for the paper industry.