My Chinese renter arrived back after a month in China. She came in smiling and happy to see me and I think she was hurt when I asked her to stop about 8 feet away. At 81, I just don’t want to take chances. She said she and many others were wearing masks while waiting at the Chinese airport and while they were on the plane. She had not been near Wuhan.
Inform her the mask she was wearing was unlikely to prevent disease. It’s also caught through the eyes.
Stay away from her. And anything she touches.
You did the right thing....and she should understand.
Try this hand gesture on her. I read somewhere that this is becoming de rigueur because of concerns about getting infected:
This is apparently different from what you see in chop socky movies:
I'd say try the second hand greeting to see if it gets her to burst out laughing, except you don't necessarily want the viruses coming at you from a belly laugh.