Distancing isn't really new for so many ethnicities and faiths. To shake hands with customers/aquintenances can be problematical.

Because some religions only allow the man to have any physical contact whatsoever; never the woman.

Catholics/Protestants with Jews/Arabs - will always distance so much that it becomes impossible for them to be in the same room.

Covid is simply mirroring these facts, and making them clearer - or were wars and violence more lethal any infections.

When I met someone and shook hands with them (back in the pre-Covid olden days) I had no idea if they were Catholic or Protestant.

Was I supposed to ask so that I could take a step back if I felt like it?

In Beirut, Dublin, Mostar, Belfast, Jerusalem and Nicosia (as examples) - your ethnicity would be determined in the blink of an eye.