I was pushing my shopping cart in an aisle near other 6-foot-socially-distant customers. Nearby was an employee stocking shelves who started coughing into her elbow for about five seconds.

Like cockroaches in a kitchen when you turn on the light, everyone scattered, with carts banging into each other for a frantic escape. The grocery store employee quickly realized the panic she caused.

That’s right, we cannot cough in public without fear of creating a stampede. There are other, less harmful things you can do, like the usual “senior failing” of unintentionally passing gas. Of course, being embarrassed is not as bad as giving someone a fatal virus.

As for the employee, when I saw her a few minutes later, she was wearing a mask.

Kudos to her.

Who would have thought that coughing, like passing gas, could make a crowd scatter?

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.