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Restroom sign on a toilet door, on wooden background
Turns out a shortage of toilet paper may not be your biggest pandemic-related restroom this fall. If you do not wear a face mask in public restrooms during the pandemic, you may want to get started. But why? Two words: Infectious particles. Playing a toilet as a urinal can release coronavirus particles into the air, says a new study.
In a study published Monday in the journal Physics of liquid, Chinese researchers say urinals can be even more infected than toilets because they produce an “alarming upward flow” of particles that “travel faster and fly faster” than those produced by a toilet flush.
“Urinary incontinence actually promotes the spread of bacteria and viruses,” researcher Xiangdong Liu said in a press release. “Wearing a mask should be mandatory in public restrooms during the pandemic, and anti-proliferation improvements are urgently needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
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Using computer models, the researchers found that just five seconds after a urinal was injected, virus particles could be released two feet from the ground. (In June, some of the same researchers released the results of a simulation that found that a toilet flush releases thousands of particles, some of which are projected a foot above the toilet bowl in about 30 seconds.)
“It is reasonable to assume that the high-velocity airflow will expel aerosol particles from the basin to regions high in the air above the toilet, allowing viruses to spread within causing human health risks,” the researchers said.
These particles can then hover in the air, where they can be inhaled by the following people with the help of the facilities, and attach themselves to surfaces such as flush handles and door knobs.
Could COVID be spread by aerosolization?
Although coronavirus is isolated in feces and urine, and it is theoretical that the virus can spread through fecal-oral contact, the new study raises eyebrows because it suggests that COVID-19 may also be transmitted by virus particles in urine.
Health officials have said that coronavirus is spread primarily through personal contact – for example, you are close to someone who is infected with the virus and they cough or sneeze, producing infected respiratory droplets that you can inhale. and become infected. These drops are quite large, and conventional wisdom is that they can travel about six feet before falling quickly to the ground.
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The extent to which the virus aerosolizes – which is transmissible through smaller droplets that can draw into the air – is a topic that has received more attention in recent weeks. The World Health Organization said “short range aerosol transmission … can not be ruled out.” Dr Anthony Fauci, the expert at the summit of infectious diseases, said, “I think there is certainly a degree of aerosolization,” during an August 3 interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association. “But I will take a step back and make sure we learn the facts before we start talking about it.”
Could it already happen?
The Chinese researchers said that infection by aerosolization in a restroom had already occurred, pointing to a case of a man and woman who allegedly carried the virus in a public toilet at a food market in Beijing. “Two of COVID-19 re-assembled confirmed cases in Beijing have been reported to be infected from a public toilet, which practically proves the danger from the public toilet,” the scientists said.
To protect yourself, do everything you can to prevent – and spread – COVID-19: Wear a face mask in all public places, test if you think you have coronavirus, avoid large gatherings, practice social distance, wash your hands regularly, and to get this pandemic on your healthiest, miss these 37 places you are most likely to catch Coronavirus.
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