There are 60 million Latinos in the United States today who are at higher risk for COVID-19. The reason? Hugs and kisses.

According to a recent article, people around the world are heavily reminded to practice social distancing. Yet, hugs and kisses, which are signs of respect and affection, are deeply ingrained in Latino culture.

"The way we communicate affection with one another for most of us is through physical contact, which would be the hug or the kiss on the cheek," said Cristalis Capielo Rosario, a Puerto Rican professor of counseling psychology at Arizona State University. "Culturally, we want to establish relationships that are based on mutual trust. ... so for us, part of building that relationship is having the contact."

As COVID-19 affects more than 1.8 million and killed more than 68,000 people in the United States, Latinos are facing a dilemma of potentially making themselves more vulnerable to the coronavirus or abandoning those customs, which can lead to stress.

While hugging and kissing as a greeting is not unique to Latinos, the ritual is planted into Latino culture from childhood. They practice these gestures not just with close family members, but with their other relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Even during first time introductions, Latinos are fond of greeting with hugs and kisses.

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"As a matter of fact, a lot of kids will get reprimanded if they don't give an abrazo to their nana or tata, or their tio or tia, and so on," said retired professor Salomón Baldenegro, founder of University of Arizona's Mexican American and Chicano studies program. "It's an integral part of our culture. It's almost subconscious. You don't even think about it. You just do it. It's that ingrained."

Other health risks

What also worsens their dilemma is the health risks that come with being Latino. According to a report by Latin Post, Latinos have a higher chance of diabetes and cancer because of hereditary reasons, which can further aggravate their health once infected by COVID-19.

Ethnic customs have conflicted with public-health policies before

According to Alan Kraut, professor at American University who specializes in immigration, ethnic and medical history, various ethnic groups throughout centuries have come into conflict with health policies aimed at controlling epidemics.

In Italy, the practice of kissing the dead and embracing the sick was blamed for a 1916 outbreak of polio.

"During the terrible encounters between Europeans and Native Americans" in the 16th century, Kraut said, Europeans brought with them smallpox. This disease wiped a significant number of the Native American population.

In 1918, the Spanish Flu became pandemic, with ethnic newspapers warning ethnic groups of their cultural behaviors that could put them at risk of becoming infected.

"In Italian, in Yiddish, in Polish, in many of the languages of the groups that came in large numbers during the turn of the century, the editors put their readers on notice that there were certain changes in their behaviors that they had to practice for the sake of public health," Kraut said. "They would often say things like, 'If you sneeze or cough, use a handkerchief. Don't spit on the sidewalk. Pay attention to the mandates of public health officials.'"

With the COVID-19 crisis nowhere near the end, could Latinos entirely abandon their cultural practices in the name of national health and safety?