As much as I was disappointed to hear that ashes would be sprinkled as well...
It has been the Roman custom to sprinkle ashes on the head since time immemorial, and it is as old as the institution of Lent in the Western Church. Both practices (sprinkling and tracing) have been used for some time, though some speculate the sprinkling is more ancient. We see the use of both practices from the rubrics for the distribution of ashes to the people in Wapelhorst's Compendium Sacrae Liturgiae (1887) "accedit ad cancellos presbyterii e regione Epistolae, et imponit cineres primo viris, deinde foeminis, non super velum, sed supra capillos aut in fronte." The 1962 Editio Typica of the missal is equally vague, simply mentioning "...cineres imponit in capite..."
All this to say, I hope this can cheer you up about a worry you might have had. Although it may be for a poor reason (this blasted virus), the Church is having recourse to the treasury of Tradition in a totally legitimate way, using a practice which has been used by the Churches of Rome for a very long time. Even if it isn't what we're used to, it doesn't mean it's not traditional. We must keep hope in these dark days, and not let every little thing drag us down a little deeper. May God bless and keep all who read this.
