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Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, maintain social-distancing, wear a mask — those are just some of the measures we’ve been told help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Time to add another one to the list: Close the toilet lid before flushing.
According to new research, flushing a toilet can generate a mist of aerosol droplets that wafts three feet in the air and lingers long enough to be inhaled by the next visitor.
Here’s a wonky visual, from the journal Physics of Fluids:
The study explained that, as water pours into the toilet bowl from one side, it strikes the opposite side and creates a vortex with droplets that can float for over a minute.
“One can foresee that the velocity will be even higher when a toilet is used frequently, such as in the case of a family toilet during a busy time or a public toilet serving a densely populated area,” the study’s co-author Ji-Xiang Wang of Yangzhou University said, adding that “it’s very alarming.”
Read:How to stay safe from coronavirus in a public restroom
We’ve known about aerosols generated by toilets for a while now, says Joshua Santarpia, a University of Nebraska professor who was not involved in the research. But “this study adds a lot of the evidence that everyone needs in order to take better action,” he told the New York Times.
So keep that in mind as we continue to open our stores, bars, restaurants… and restrooms. Even during non-pandemic times, the notion of breathing in fecal clouds is a bit unsettling — throw in some coronavirus, and let’s all agree to close the lid next time.
