The Worst Thing You're Doing in Public Bathrooms, Infectious Disease Doc Warns
Here's where germs collect, and how to avoid getting sick from them.
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The worst thing you can do in a public bathroom is touch knobs and handles.
Among all of the unpleasant-seeming places in a public bathroom, any of the handles in the room should be the area of top concern, Russo says. These high-touch surfaces—including the door handles, stall handles, and toilet flush handle—are all places where many people's hands frequently make contact.
"We know we have to wash our hands when we go to the bathroom, but it's comical when you think about it" that you get them dirty again immediately after you open the door, Russo notes. That is, unless you take proper precautions.
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Use a napkin or piece of clothing to cover your hand before touching handles.
Instead of reaching out and touching that handle directly, Russo recommends covering the handle with a paper napkin or your sleeve or sweater as a barrier. "Depending on the direction of the doors, I usually use my elbow if possible, or the inside of my jacket, but I try not to touch those surfaces with my hands so that I don't have to worry," he says.
But really, avoid handles altogether if possible.
Even better than protecting your hands when you use a handle? Skipping it altogether if possible. "Guys can go to a urinal and actually not touch anything, and a lot of them have automatic flushing mechanisms," Russo says. "Women have to touch a stall handle, but you could try [to hook it] with your elbow" for a touch-free entry.
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Wash your hands vigorously after using a public bathroom.
Don't freak out even if you've had no choice but to touch every single door and appliance handle in the room, Russo says. "Because if there's any concern at all, or if you feel uncomfortable, or if you know you had to touch that door handle because you weren't able to get around it with those sort of tricks—just go ahead and wash your hands," Russo says. And that's something you should be doing anyway—frequently—when you're in public spaces.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends lathering hands with soap and scrubbing for at least 20 seconds (singing "happy birthday" twice will do the trick, a rule of thumb that has been commonly applied amid the COVID-19 pandemic).
And so that you don't sully the hands you've just cleaned, use your elbow or your foot to push the door on your way out.
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