What are Toilet Plumes? Are They a Covid-19 Risk?

What are Toilet Plumes? Are They a Covid-19 Risk?

All this time, our paranoia of toilet seats has always been misplaced – the carefully placed tissue paper, the seats we wipe clean before using the toilet, the slim covers offered in public washrooms – germ transmission through the surface to skin contact is nothing compared to the health risks of flushing a toilet.

 

All your life, you have been focusing on the wrong aspect, experts say.

A recent study done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in partnership with the University of Oklahoma confirmed that turbulence created from flushing the toilet can create microscopic aerosol droplets rising to 3-15 feet. The droplets forced up into the air can linger long enough to be inhaled by the next user or even settle on surfaces around the bathroom.

Experts call this “toilet plume.”

It’s not only gross, but the toilet plume is a potential vector for infectious disease. As it is, toilet plumes have already been implicated by epidemiological studies in outbreaks of infectious diseases in cruise ships, apartment complexes, restaurants, and even airplanes.

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