Learning from other cultures for the common welfare

Globally, the common routine of office workers is well-known, in the sense that they go to their workplace in the morning, spend 6 to 8 hours sitting at their desk, surrounded by their coworkers, sharing common spaces, to then go home in the noon.

In addition to this, many people commute to their work through the use of public transportation, so they use buses or the metro daily. Only in New York is it known that an average of 5,086,833 people use the subway daily to get around the city.

All this leads us to think about the number of people with whom an average office worker has a contact in their daily routine, regardless of whether the person has direct contact with others or not, the fact that not all people cover their faces when sneezing, or do not wash their hands after using the bathroom, is something undeniable and that we know that indirectly affects everyone.

As a result of the global pandemic that plagues the entire world, daily habits of health and awareness of personal hygiene and respect for personal space have had to adapt globally, with Western culture being the most trouble with these circumstances. Intrinsic parts of Western culture is to greet and have many gestures that involve direct physical contact, contrary to Eastern cultures such as Japan, where physical contact is extremely limited, even in the family environment.

This has led, at an international level, for the health care of the general community, to adopt common customs of oriental culture worldwide, such as bowing or wearing facial masks when going out, something that not everyone has been able to adapt very easily. Hopefully, shortly, these customs will help us maintain our daily routines without such extreme measures as we have been subjected to in recent months.