Face masks and social distancing are key elements to our new normality during the covid pandemic. Even though we have had to adapt to new ways of living, from working from home and asking if everyone sees our screen to carrying antibacterial wipes everywhere, we have found a way to survive this pandemic. And so did in the past, where people didn’t have social media, facetime calls, or dating apps to look for love.
Could you imagine not seeing, not even through a screen, your loved one and finally, when you could catch a glimpse, not being able to kiss each other? Well, that is why a very curious invention was made: the ‘kiss screen’ to demonstrate your love physically but without risking your health even before the Spanish flu pandemic.
According to a My Heritage blog post, a decade before the Spanish flu began –meaning early 1900, people were already aware of germs that could be transmitted through physical proximity, such as a kiss, therefore a screen was designed to let lovers kiss each other while, at the same time, they eliminated germs thanks to an “antiseptic gel” it had.
[Image: My Heritage]
Paper ads show the “osculatory screen”, approved at that time by the National Pharmaceutical Society, as a “disinfected silk gauze through which the kiss is accomplished, the gauze being held in an ivory frame and placed between the two pairs of lips before they meet.”
Some even mention that when the screen is not being used, it can serve as a “pin-point racket in its idle moments”, making it a very multipurpose device.
However, now we know that germs, bacterias, and viruses are not only transmitted through the mouth but also through the air we breathe and exhale and if one of the kissy lovers was sick, it was highly probable that the other would get sick.
Fortunately, we no longer have those ‘kiss screens’ and we have a better understanding of how viruses that cause influenza or even covid, are transmitted. This has let us come up with new ways to not let our loved ones feel lonely and maintain the spark alive.
