It’s called toilet plume.
A toilet plume is the invisible to the naked eye, cloud-like dispersal of raw, infectious sewage particles as a result of flushing a toilet. Flush particles rapidly rise out of the bowl and several feet into the air after flushing. Aerosolized droplets can remain suspended in the air for tens of minutes between users, posing an inhalation risk. These invisible particles go on to coat and spread onto surfaces like floors and counters or objects like hand towels, bathmats, or even toothbrushes.
“A 2024 study showed evidence that even closing the lid may still lead to small viral particles escaping through gaps under the lid, resulting in viral cross-contamination of the air and surfaces in a washroom.”
This is what I remember, there’s no actual solution to this. Still close the lid though!
That same study also includes this figure,
But the study doesn’t measure other surfaces or things like “a nearby sink” or “a hand towel”. Perhaps for airborne particles they roam more freely, but what about surface particles? I feel like there is more to study.
This is similar to why we all wore masks during the pandemic. No, they’re not always effective, but yes, they reduce transmission rates.
Yes, but there is incredibly strong evidence that mask wearing does reduce transmission rates. I haven’t looked (so definitely correct me if I’m wrong), but I suspect that lid closing likely does not have strong evidence for decreased transmission.
One factor that I think likely weighs heavily into this is that public toilets, where you could be exposed to particles from a stranger dont have lids usually, and they have a much more violent flush, while home toilets are mostly just used by your own household.
has an infection ever occured due to the lid being close, seems like it would be too small to cause problems.