Welcome to #NormalContact

Welcome! This is the official home of the #NormalContact movement.

Time for #NormalContact

Quarantine from “shelter in place” orders can feel like a slow death. And while you want to be respectful of people who are afraid of COVID-19, a growing body of research indicates that we shouldn’t be as scared as we have been. In the mean time, going out in public can feel awful. The “pandemic panic” can make being out and about seem like everyone is treating you like you’re a threat to their health just for existing.

Surely, though, there are other people out there like you, right? Folks who don’t buy into the fear and would love to have a normal conversation at a normal distance. Thanks to the overwhelming pressure from the media and some state and local governments, though, that’s not possible anymore. And asking for a “good, old-fashioned, normal interaction” would be awkward at best, though. So how can we make the world feel normal again?

Enter the red and blue ribbon of the #NormalContact campaign. The red and blue ribbon is a way to tell people that you’re open to normal interactions at distances of less than six feet. This is not a license to harass anyone. You shouldn’t ever take away someone’s ability to practice social distancing if they aren’t open to a #NormalContact interaction. The red and blue ribbon only lets folks know that it’s ok to approach you; it’s not a warning that you intend to make other people nervous.

#NormalContact Politics

The #NormalContact movement is not political, and shouldn’t be interpreted as supporting any particular ideal. It is not pro-right, or pro-left, or anything else.  #NormalContact aficionados belong to every part of the political spectrum. While people can’t agree on politics, we believe that it’s possible to find people on every side willing to agree on one small, specific idea if it’s a human issue. The only thing that supporting #NormalContact means is, “I’m not so afraid of COVID-19 that I can’t recognize your humanity. I’d like to have the same interactions with you that I had before the quarantines went into effect.” The #NormalContact movement reaches far beyond the identity politics so rife in our political systems today.

The #NormalContact ribbon

You can wear a two-color ribbon or two ribbons (one red, one blue) back-to-back in the traditional awareness loop. You can buy any pin, patch, or sticker that shows the ribbon loop in the right colors. You can wear (or not wear) the ribbon any day (or hour!) you choose. You can even choose to wear the ribbon with a mask on, too! This freedom is how normal people acted before this quarantine stripped us of our ability to be ourselves. One thing we recommend: if you see someone else wearing the ribbon (whether you have yours on or not) please give them a wave, a nod, a wink, or a simple hello. Let’s recognize our mutual efforts and be supportive of one another.

Feel free to use the #NormalContact hashtag when talking about interactions that abide by our philosophy. And don’t forget to share our site and any social media accounts we post on this site. (If it doesn’t appear here then it isn’t an official #NormalContact account.)

What can you find here?

You can find information on the science and philosophy of #NormalContact on this site. You can also find an FAQ and some blog posts.