Can a toilet plume transmit Covid-19? The experts aren't sure.
Until the question is settled one way or the other, it would be prudent after a bowel movement to put down the toilet seat before flushing. For those who are most vulnerable, it may be advisable to avoid use of public restrooms when possible.
"Researchers say the virus’s presence in excrement and the gastrointestinal tract raises the prospect of transmission via toilets, because many covid-19 patients experience diarrhea or vomiting. A study of air samples in two hospitals in Wuhan, China, found that although coronavirus aerosols in isolation wards and ventilated patient rooms were very low, 'it was higher in the toilet areas used by the patients.'
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it remains 'unclear whether the virus found in feces may be capable of causing covid-19,' and 'there has not been any confirmed report of the virus spreading from feces to a person.' For now, the CDC characterizes the risk as low based on observations from previous outbreaks of other coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)."
- Washington Post 6/16/20
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/16/coronavirus-toilet-flushing/
Forbes 4/2/2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/04/02/why-you-should-flush-with-the-lid-down-virologist-warns-of-fecal-oral-transmission-of-covid-19/#5b76337e6eb8
MedPage Today 3/9/2020
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/85315
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