No Mask, No Entry

   I had a medical appointment today, one that had been pushed back (as they now say) from several months ago. I'd had to deal with a separate issue, so I was half an hour early for my appointment. The sign on the door said everyone had to wear a mask; this sign emphasized that all masks should be in place BEFORE going inside.  The receptionist had just opened the window, and there was no one else in the waiting room. But after she took my information, she directed me to wait in an examining room, for safety she said. She didn't specify whose.
    After a wait, which turned out to be not very long, there was a knock on the door. A voice outside the closed door asked if I had a mask on. When I said yes, the door opened and in came the doctor. He stayed on his side of the room and I on mine. The sole contact was words only.
       Last week, at another pushed back medical visit, I filled out a questionnaire and had my temperature taken at a visit. That waiting room, like all others now, was bereft of books, magazines, handouts, newspapers, and even the TV was turned off, ostensibly to assure the best of social distancing. And everybody was required to wear masks. At that visit, there was some contact with a nurse, but when the doctor entered for his brief visit, he stayed on his side of the room in front of his computer, across the room from where I was  sitting. Again there was absolutely no physical contact.
    In-office visits are very close to virtual visits, which are probably destined to be the new face of medicine anyway.  What self-respecting medical professional would choose to deal with the great unwashed anyway, if there is a viable alternative.