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LINK What to Do When You Need to Use a Public Bathroom During a Pandemic

This is your public service announcement for today.

We’ve heard about toilet plume. And now we’re starting to venture out more. So what’s a person with a full bladder to do?

By Jen Gunter
June 24, 2020

It can feel as though you’re running an infectious gantlet when using a public bathroom, especially following last week’s news of toilet plume, that cloud of aerosol droplets that can rise nearly three feet and linger long enough to be inhaled by the toilet’s next user, or land on other surfaces of the bathroom. And, in a way, you are.

So what to do, especially now that many of us are starting to leave home a little more? Should we avoid shared restrooms — in parks, malls or recently reopened restaurants — like, well, the plague?

As an obstetrician and gynecologist, I spend a lot of time dispelling the myth that you can catch a sexually transmitted infection from a shared toilet seat (because you can’t, not even herpes, which is the most commonly believed myth). But what about the coronavirus?

First, how infectious are bathrooms, really?
We know they can be infectious by touch. We wipe and potentially contaminate everything we touch with microbes that come from stool, like norovirus and E. coli, before our hands get washed.

Bathrooms can also be infectious by air. With some respiratory viruses, like influenza, if enough infectious particles are airborne, breathing a previously shared airspace can pose a hazard. The best example is measles. If someone with measles enters a room, the air is potentially infectious for two hours.

Bathrooms have another unique hazard: toilet plume. With each flush, the toilet releases an invisible army of microbes into the environment, where they land on walls (which you may touch while hovering over the seat — more on that later), the toilet seat, the floor and the toilet and door handles.

We’ve known about toilet plume for some time. A new study suggests potentially infectious particles continue to be airborne for about a minute after each flush, and toilets can continue to generate an infectious plume several flushes after the original contaminated flush.

It’s truly the unwelcome gift that keeps on giving.

So what about the coronavirus?
In general, contact with contaminated surfaces is not believed to be a primary method of coronavirus infection, but this is still understudied. While shared bathrooms can increase the spread of gastrointestinal infections, we don’t know how bathrooms play a role in transmission of a respiratory virus, like the coronavirus, that has also been identified in stool.

We also don’t know the risk — if any — posed by coronavirus aerosols in the toilet plume, so admittedly there are a lot of unknowns.

What we do know is that there are certain bathroom behaviors that will help protect you from many nefarious microbes.

Here’s a handy checklist for shared bathroom use.
The best defenses against bathroom contagions are a mask, social distancing, limiting the surfaces you touch with your hands and hand hygiene.

Consider larger bathrooms with multiple stalls because they have more air circulation.

If someone exits a bathroom stall or a single bathroom right before you, try waiting at least 60 seconds before entering — especially if the toilet seat lid is up, signifying more plume.

Skip the paper toilet seat covers. They are likely placebo — we have no idea if they offer protection from bacteria or viruses — and they could easily be contaminated with toilet plume, so touching them with your hands could be a source of infectious transmission. (They are largely absent in other countries — we never had them in Canada, where I grew up, and when I moved to the United States they seemed so prudish.)

If you need to dispose of a menstrual product in one of those little containers, touch the lid with a wad of toilet paper and sanitize your hands after. Those lids are among the worst surfaces in the bathroom stall: touched by many unwashed hands and showered with infectious plume.

If the toilet has a lid, close it before you flush so it traps the plume. Think of the lid as a mask for the toilet.

If an automated toilet is flushing, step back because those things spray.

How you dry your hands after washing probably doesn’t matter — paper towels or dryers are likely equal. But do avoid shared, reusable hand towels.

Get out of there quickly. Chatting in bathrooms is the new smoking in bathrooms — it’s a relic of the past. If you have to open a door to exit, use hand sanitizer after you leave.

But what if you can’t find a bathroom or the one you find is gross?
First, try to avoid needing a bathroom. If you’re heading out, modify your water intake. Remember, eight glasses of water a day is a myth.

For women, you can try squeezing and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles very quickly (each contraction and relaxation should take one to two seconds) five times. These are called quick flicks and will relax the bladder, suppressing the urge. This may buy you some time.

Going to the bathroom outdoors should be a last resort. If everyone starts using the outdoors as an outhouse, the smell of urine will be intolerable and people will get sick unnecessarily because appropriate sanitation is vital in containing many infectious diseases.

If you are caught outdoors with no other option but the ground, try to get 200 feet away from foot traffic — and beware of plants like poison ivy! Use hand sanitizer when you’re done afterward.

And what about, God help us, the airplane bathroom?
Airplane bathrooms are some of the worst. On a long flight, they may go a long time without cleaning; they’re also cramped and the turbulence may lead to water or urine spray.

Sometimes you don’t even have to use an airplane bathroom to be exposed to the germs you would find in one. In one study, passengers sitting in the aisle seat may have been infected by an unwell passenger as they made their way down the aisle to the bathroom and back.

We don’t know the risk of catching Covid-19 after entering a small airplane bathroom right after someone who is infected with the coronavirus, but, as I mentioned above, you should wait to enter a bathroom that someone has just exited — especially if the toilet seat is up — and then get out fast.

The airplane industry likes to say its bathrooms are as clean as those in any office building (data partly funded by the industry). And they are probably as clean as any bathroom with a facility-to-user ratio of between 1:50 and 1:75, and where the bathroom and sink are in a small closet exposed to turbulence and cleaned every four to 18 hours.

And please, have a seat (or raise it).
I have one final request, particularly of women (up to 85 percent of whom report avoiding this): Please sit down. Sitting directly on the toilet seat isn’t going to put you at risk for an S.T.I., so don’t hover. This often leaves urine on the seat, which means you or the next person has to wipe the toilet seat — the surface with the most exposure to the infectious plume — before sitting. This also goes for those who stand: Please raise the seat.

Here’s a golden rule for shared bathroom etiquette now and always: Think not just of yourself, but of the seven or so people who will be using it after you.

HippieChick58 9 June 25
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29 comments

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5

A pee bottle kept in the car has been a lifesaver. The first time I ventured out for supplies during the lockdown, I had to cut my shopping short and head back home. There's been times when not finding a public restroom would have been a disaster. How soon will we need to go the astronaut route and suit up with a diaper?

5

TL;DR - no one really knows anything more than "toilet plume exists" so use all the standard social distancing, wear a mask, wash your hands protocols you'd use an Hy other place.

5

Common sense

bobwjr Level 10 June 25, 2020
5

I pull over on the roadside, open both car doors on that side, carry paper towels (which I dispose of properly) Most businesses around here, although open for business, have blocked off their bathrooms.

4

.Even before the whole pandemic, I always carried hand sanitizer and lysol disinfectant spray to cover my ass (literally) from getting germs. No, I'm not a germa phobe, but I really don't want other people's germs touching me. After I do my business, I make sure I wash my hands thoroughly and do not touch my face, phone or other things without disinfecting them before, during & after.

4

A timely issue as I'll be driving my wife to an appointment at Stanford this coming Tuesday and then on down to Morgan Hills to get more wonderful fruit from Andy's Orchard. We both used one of their bathrooms last time. Never took off my well sealing mask or gloves. I think I'll suggest she use @AnneWimsey's method next time as she is a veteran camper.

MarkWD Level 7 June 25, 2020
4

Plenty of woods around me to duck into if I need to. I always have tissues or TP with me. And I have a van, modified to be a camper. I carry one of those female urinals - so I can pee in the van with total privacy. Between those two, and a little forethought - I can avoid having to do the public thing !

Bingo.
I am a man, and I have a male urinal, that I got the last time I was in the hospital. All I need to do, is use the urinal in my car, that has tinted windows. Then, I pour the piss on the ground outside my door. Urine has the smell of ammonia, but it is harmless, even safe to drink.
You said you have a female urinal, so you can do as I do.
I have not been to a public restroom, since this pandemic started. I piss in my car, then go into the store, then piss in my car when I get done shopping, then drive home.

4

To me, one of the mad things about bathroom design is that they nearly always have a door that opens inwards, which means that to exit, you have to put your freshly-washed hands on a door pull of uncertain hygiene. Just make the door open outwards and we could leave with the prod of an elbow or boot.

Gareth Level 7 June 25, 2020
3

Sounds like a shitty situation.

3

Saw a real beauty ( notice that is) the other day posted by someone with a wry sense of humour on the doors leading to Public Toilets at the Shopping Centre where I go.
" Ladies, Please remain seated throughout the ENTIRE Performance, Gentlemen, Please stand closer BECAUSE, like life, it may be shorter than than you think."
I guess the Cleaner/Cleaners are getting a bit sick and tired of all the users with their 'Hit and Miss' visits.

3

I was thinking about that the other day. It seemed to me that in addition to a mask, a pair of disposable latex gloves would come in handy. After all, after washing your hands, you still have to use the door handle when you exit

Better to use a sandwich baggie, our healthcare workers need the gloves.

3

Used public urinal. Would be reluctant to use a stall.

barjoe Level 9 June 25, 2020
3

I feel comfortable peeing in the woods. I pack out my toilet paper.

Animals dig up toilet paper and wipes, and they blow across the landscape. Disgusting.

Wipes do not break down outdoors. NEVER use wipes when hiking or camping!

Although I pick up litter, I refuse to touch poop-smeared wipes.

3

The other danger, which I don't think you mention. Is simply that. A. a lot of public bathrooms are still locked and closed, And B. even if they are open there is rarely anything to stop several people entering at once, meaning close proximity in a small often badly ventilated area. Best carry a chemi-loo in the car, or better yet don't make long journeys away from home anyway.

2

Go behind a big bush

Good luck with finding one without a long line.

2

Geez its not that bad.

First i alway wait a half hour or more after someone is in the bathroom. Unless its an emergency i wait.

In covid times, i wear a double cloth mask or an n95 mask. Third i use a seat cover. Fourth i was my hands.

Five trust you bodies immune system. Chances are youve already encountered rhe vieus but it didnt survive long enough to infect you.

2

I guess you might be up shits creek ( sorry for the sarcasm )

2

That was the second best book that I’ve ever read.
But seriously just keep your mask on and WASH your hands like never before afterwards.
And for those of you who might be butt scratchers just apply some sanitizer to your cheeks and wash your hands before you touch your other cheeks. ( and that should’ve been pre- covid but people do what people do. )

2

Just make sure you go at home before you go out.

Well and good BUT sometimes nature has a very strong mind of its own unfortunately and when nature calls we MUST respond A.S.A.P. must we not?

2

I always leave the lid down after use. This habit came after the great toilet seat wars that nearly every couple fight. In the end, I realised that us guys cannot hope to win but an honourable draw is possible. Leaving the lid down causes a slight inconvenience for both sexes but is more hygienic.

Lids were invented for a reason. Personally, I hate walking into a bathroom to see a gaping toilet hole. Open when needed for use, or cleaning, is my motto.

2

I precariously hover over the bowl.

A motto I have seen in toilets "No use standing on the seat, the crabs in here can jump 6 feet"

1

Traveling by car for men isn't so bad for men. I would prefer traveling in winter though. I feel guilty in warmer weather or when people pass me in convertibles with their tops down when I piss out the window <g>

1

I try not to use public toilets or even the ones at my workplace. At the same time I do not like company who appears to have stopped by just to use mine.

1

Good luck finding an open one in a store. (Has someone said this already?)

1

Package several antiseptic wipes individually in baggies before you go shopping. Take an antiseptic wipe in a baggie, into the bathroom with you. After using the facilities wash your hands and then then take your wipe out and use it to turn off the tap and open the door. Place it back in the baggie and dispose of it properly. Alternatively, don't wash your hands at all and use the wipe to clean your hands after you have exited the bathroom, although they do say washing your hands is more effective. If you carry a purse, leave it home and find another way to carry your essentials. Most people don't need any more than one small pocket will hold, on their person. I carry some wipes, a shopping list, a single credit card, my driver's license (for ID) and a single car key into the store. I am lucky though, even though I will turn 71 in August, and when I've gone shopping lately it usually takes 5 to 8 hours, I've never been caught short yet.

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