Cleaning and Hygiene – Is it now Everyone's Responsibility?
The British Institute of Cleaning Science and Kimberly-Clark Professional are calling for robust hygiene training for all staff, not just the cleaning...
Read Full ArticleThe UK government’s message is clear, they want the public to start safely resuming normal social activities. But some will be understandably nervous about using shared public facilities, such as toilets.
As restaurants, leisure facilities and shopping centres reopen, so will public amenities such as washrooms. In early July, the Managing Director of the British Toilet Associaton (BTA), Raymond Martin commented that publicly accessible toilets had always played a vital role in our nation’s health and well-being, social inclusion and equality.
But never has their maintenance and cleanliness of these services been so prevalent in the public’s mindset. Hygiene anxiety will be a barrier for some individuals when it comes to visiting public spaces, but are these worries justified in terms of COVID-19 risk?
In late June, Local Government Minister Simon Clarke and Environment Minister Rebecca Pow wrote to councils setting out the government’s position on public access to municipal public toilets.
Their guidance for councils reopening public toilets is as follows:
A recent study from the journal Physics of Fluids posed the question: “Can a toilet promote virus transmission?” The paper outlines the potential dangers of inhaling droplets arising from a flushing toilet.
It concluded that 0-60 per cent of the total number of particles can rise above the toilet seat to cause large-area spread, with the height of these particles reaching 106.5 cm from the ground. Even in the post-flushing period (35 s–70 s after the last flushing), the upward velocity of the diffused particles can reach between 0.27-0.37 cm per second.
The authors of the study advocate several procedures to adopt when using a toilet, including putting the lid down before flushing, cleaning the toilet seat before using it and wash hands carefully after flushing, since particles may be present on the flush button and door handle.
Faecal–oral transmission is a common transmission route for many viruses, but whether this is true for COVID-19 still remains to be explored.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there is some evidence that COVID-19 infection may lead to intestinal infection and be present in faeces. However, to date (report updated as of 9 July 2020) only one study has cultured the COVID-19 virus from a single stool specimen. There have been no reports of faecal−oral transmission of the COVID-19 virus to date.
William Schaffner MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, had his guidance for using public toilets safely published in WebMD. His suggestions prioritise proper handwashing, mask-wearing and social distancing:
Picture: A photograph of a toilet sign
Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 23 July 2020
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