Life is finally slowly inching back towards some semblance as COVID-19 lockdown rules are easing up and venturing out in public is no longer as terrifying as it once was. Having said that, we have an important COVID-19 bathroom PSA for you before you let loose: there’s a risk you’re inhaling coronavirus poop droplets every time you use a toilet, bumping up the spread risk of the disease.
Speaking of COVID-19 (that’s unrelated to the spread of poop), the GOAT team talk about life after lockdown on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
According to the study published by researchers at the Yangzhou University in China (via The Washington Post), just flushing a toilet can shoot poop particles up to nearly a metre into the air. Specifically, the poop swishes around in a toilet so violent that it gets propelled into the air and this
“toilet plume” will then settle on nearby surfaces.
Yes, it’s pretty disgusting, especially if you’re a germaphobe.
What makes this gross “toilet plume” finding especially bad is if the poop came from came from someone who has COVID-19 as there are worries over the potential for poop to spread the coronavirus around.
We’ve known for a while that COVID-19 has been found in the poop of coronavirus patients, but it is still not known where it is possible for the disease to spread via poop droplet inhalation since it’s unclear whether the amount of COVID-19 present in these “toilet plumes” is enough to infect people.
“The risk is not zero, but how great a risk it is, we don’t know,” Charles P. Gerba, microbiologist at the University of Arizona, tells The Washington Post. “The big unknown is how much virus is infectious in the toilet when you flush it … and how much virus does it take to cause an infection.”
Keep in mind that this is for all toilets not just public ones so don’t think you’re free from the getting out of this COVID-19 crapshoot if you stick to just pooping at home.
So how do you minimise the risk of spreading or catching COVID-19 via poop droplet inhalation? Clean your toilet regularly, always wash your hands after using it, don’t lick it (seriously), and most importantly, close the lid before flushing as that’ll keep the coronavirus-riddled “toilet plume” from splashing everywhere.
So if you don’t want shit to literally hit the fan close the toilet lid whenever you flush or you risk shit hitting the fan, literally and metaphorically.
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