The cultural context matters a lot here. What's considered normal or acceptable varies enormously between different regions, generations, and social groups. There's no universal standard on this.

Honestly I think people overthink stuff like this. Just do what feels right to you and don't worry so much about what other people think. At the end of the day you have to live your own life, not theirs.

The media loves to make everything sound like a huge crisis because fear sells papers and gets ratings. Take what you see on the news with a grain of salt. Most people in real life are decent and reasonable.

I used to have a strong opinion on this and then I lived in another part of the country for a few years and completely changed my mind. Travel does that. What seems obvious where you grew up isn't obvious everywhere.

I think kindness goes a long way here. Whatever the 'right' answer is, you can usually find it by treating people the way you'd want to be treated. That old rule still works better than any complicated theory.