More and more people are doing their part to help prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus, and Star Trek fans are suggesting we officially replace the handshake with the Vulcan salute. Also known as COVID-19, the notorious coronavirus has been causing widespread panic across the world in recent weeks as the number of reported cases continues to grow. As the number of those afflicted continues to rise, so do the fears of contracting the coronavirus, and some people are getting creative with their preventative measures to help avoid getting sick.

For the uninitiated, the Vulcan salute is a hand gesture wherein you merely raise your hand and part your fingers between the middle and ring fingers. First popularized by Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek television series, the character would often do the gesture while saying the classic line, "Live long and prosper." Perhaps the biggest difficulty with having everyone trying this approach is that it's not so easy for everyone to separate their fingers this way. Still, as long as you have your hand raised in the air and you say Spock's famous catch phrase, the gesture will be acceptable, and certainly a lot safer than shaking hands with strangers.

Interestingly enough, it was Nimoy himself who created the popular hand gesture for his character, which remains the official Vulcan greeting in Star Trek movies and television shows all these years later. The actor would later explain the salute was inspired by his childhood memories of the way Jewish priests would hold up their hands when giving blessings at religious ceremonies and services. Now, the gesture is forever synonymous with Nimoy and Mr. Spock. Though Nimoy left us in 2015, his Star Trek co-star George Takei approves of using Spock's famous gesture to replace the handshake, as seen in the tweet from Takei's Twitter account below.

The number of cases of coronavirus reported worldwide has officially topped 100,000. As you might expect, these growing numbers are starting to have a major impact on travel to and from the United States as well as mass gatherings within the country. The famous SXSW film festival and conferences in Austin, Texas just cancelled their annual event for the first time in the organization's 34 year history. The news comes after several major companies had already withdrawn from attending planned panels and conferences at the event, including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and WarnerMedia. Sporting events and music festivals across the country are putting the kibosh on their own festivities as well.

The United States government is now taking the situation very seriously as well, putting forth emergency spending to help take control of the epidemic in the country. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House passed a measure to provide $8.3 billion for coronavirus funding. Best of luck to everyone out there reading with avoiding the coronavirus, and let's hope the disease is successfully eradicated sooner rather than later. In other words, as our pal Spock would say, live long and prosper. This news comes to us from CNET.