“These days,” a friend of mine recently said, “sneezing or coughing in public is pretty much like shouting ‘Allahu akbar.'”

This is true, in my experience. Riding the F train yesterday afternoon, my throat felt a little dry. It wasn’t sore but closer to what we call a “tickle.” So I cleared it a bit (nothing more than a simple, short ahem) and immediately felt the hot gaze of my subway carmates searching me for signs of infection.