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Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, the public has been told that the virus spreads through respiratory droplets, such as a cough or a sneeze. However, According to Business Insider, respiratory droplets may not be the only bodily fluid that’s spreading COVID-19. Recent studies reveal that some patients testing positive for the virus also had traces of it in their fecal matter.
A study done by the American Institute of Physics showed that flushing a toilet without a lid, can spew droplets and any material inside the toilet, up to a distance of 3 feet. It also revealed that the “strong turbulence within the bowl” generated by the flush, could cause the toilet’s contents to float in the air around the toilet for up to a minute, where they could land on other surfaces around the bathroom or be inhaled by another person in the bathroom. Scientists say this poses a huge risk for shared bathrooms.
Fluid dynamics researcher and co-author of the study, Ji-Xiang Wang, said, “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.” Wang and others used a fluid-dynamics model to track the movement of the droplets after a toilet is flushed. The researchers say when a toilet flushes, it creates a vortex. The droplets in that vortex can then be carried as high as 3 feet upward, and they’re so small that they can float there for up to a minute. If the person who flushed the toilet were, in fact, infected with COVID-19, the vortex would contain droplets of the virus in that matter.
It’s unclear, though, if the amount of virus that the particles contained would be enough to infect the next person. Scientists say they’re still unsure how much exposure of the coronavirus is needed for infection.
Wang adds that the best solution is to make sure you put down the lid after you flush. He, of course, notes that isn’t always an option in public toilets. Included in the study, researchers suggest that a new toilet design, containing a lid that closes automatically before flushing, may help stop the spread of infectious diseases.
