COVID-19 and Restrooms
Restroom cleanliness has always been a concern of building owners and managers. Now with COVID-19, those concerns have been amplified considerably.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that the virus is “mainly spread through inhalation,” they also say that the virus can spread by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching our mouth, eyes, nose, or food we are about to consume.
Further, after an infected person sneezes or coughs, the coronavirus pathogens can become airborne immediately, ultimately landing just about anywhere, high and low, making it very difficult to find and eradicate them.
All these problems are intensified in restrooms for the following reasons:
· Most restrooms are relatively small. For instance, a men’s restroom may have only one or two stalls, one or two urinals, and one or two sinks. This makes social distancing in a restroom difficult.
· Public restrooms tend to be poorly ventilated; if the virus is in the air, it may linger longer than in a well-ventilated setting.
· Public restrooms have many “high touch” areas where pathogens can collect. In fact, it may be challenging to find surfaces in a restroom that are not high touch.
· Urinals and toilets generate toilet plume. This occurs when the urinal or toilet is flushed, releasing microbes that then become airborne. As this pertains to COVID, the problem is that the virus has been identified in human waste.
So, what can building owners and managers do about this situation? In some cases, they are closing their public restrooms altogether. This is the decision made by many retail outlets.
For instance, one retailer in North Carolina has posted signs on their door that they are “reducing store hours to allow more time for cleaning.” The sign goes on to say, “as another precaution, all bathrooms and water fountains are now closed to public use.”
While this store and other retailers can get by with shutting down all restrooms, in most offices, schools, and commercial facilities, it simply will not work, especially if they plan to keep their property open and business running. Building owners and managers must adopt other options to keep people healthy and their restrooms open, clean, and sanitary, as we make our way through this pandemic.
Among those other helpful options are the following:
Increase cleaning frequencies. Restrooms in office buildings, for instance, may be cleaned only once per day. At this time, cleanings should be increased to two or three times per day depending on soil load and how many people use the facility.
Perform the two-step. Professional cleaners must be reminded always to clean surfaces first and then disinfect, a two-step process.
Use N-List disinfectants. Only disinfectants approved to deactivate the pathogens that cause the virus should be used. The EPA has created the N-List that includes nearly 500 disinfectants, now proven to eliminate or deactivate the virus on surfaces.
Pay attention to overlooked surfaces. More cleaning attention must be paid to surfaces that are often cleaned on an as-needed basis or potentially overlooked. This would include such things as partition walls and knobs, soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers.
Mopping concerns. If mopping floors, the mop should be changed frequently, after cleaning each restroom if possible. COVID has been detected on floors. Changing mops after each restroom is cleaned helps prevent cross-contamination should the mop have collected the disease-causing pathogens—preventing them from spreading.
Misting. The final—and most crucial—step is to spray or “mist” restrooms using electrostatic sprayers. Using these systems, the mist adheres to surfaces, deactivating pathogens almost immediately. We are now using these systems as part of our infection control program in practically all our client’s facilities.
To contact me, please click on the image below or call (888) 609-1410
