Survey finds airport restroom users seldom wash

Sun Times ^ | 09/16/03 | JIM RITTER

[bedolido]

More than one of four users of O'Hare Airport washrooms didn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom, according to a survey that found even dirtier hands in New York's airport.

But in Toronto, 96 percent of airport bathroom users washed up. The high rate likely is due to fears over the SARS virus, which hit the Canadian city hard, researchers said.

Observers who hung out in airport bathrooms spied on 7,541 users in six cities. Observers were instructed to comb their hair and put on makeup while discreetly recording hand-washing behavior.

The percentage of non-washers was 29 percent in New York, 26 percent in Chicago, San Francisco and Miami and 19 percent in Dallas.

"The same people that fail to wash after using restrooms go on to pick up children, handle food, greet family and use other public facilities," said Dr. Judy Daly, secretary of the American Society for Microbiology, which sponsored the survey.

The survey, conducted last month by Wirthlin Worldwide, was reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy at McCormick Place.

The findings indicate many people lie when it comes to hand-washing. In an earlier survey, 95 percent of adults claimed they always wash their hands after using public restrooms.

With the exception of Toronto, there has been no significant increase in hand-washing compared with observational studies in 1996 and 2000. And researchers fear rates could drop in Toronto as SARS fears ebb. During the epidemic's peak, the media bombarded residents with reminders to wash their hands.

Germs enter your body if your unwashed hands touch your nose, mouth, eyes and open wounds. Hand-washing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce the transmission of colds, flu, diarrhea, SARS and other diseases.

Health officials advise washing before preparing or eating food, treating a wound or a sick person and inserting or removing contact lenses. Wash after going to the bathroom; handling uncooked meat, poultry and fish; changing a diaper; blowing your nose; coughing; sneezing; taking out the garbage, or handling an animal.

Use soap and warm running water. Rub hands together for at least 10 to 15 seconds. Wash all surfaces thoroughly, including wrists and under the fingernails. Forget anti-bacterial soap; ordinary soap works just fine.

Some aren't keeping it clean

A survey found the following percentages of people do not wash their hands after using airport restrooms:

Dallas/Fort Worth: males, 31 percent; females, 8 percent
John F. Kennedy, New York: males, 37 percent; females, 22 percent
Miami Dade County: males, 30 percent; females, 21 percent
O'Hare: males, 38 percent; females, 15 percent
San Francisco: males, 20 percent; females, 41 percent
Toronto: males, 5 percent; females, 3 percent
Total: males, 26 percent, females, 17 percent
SOURCE: American Society for Microbiology

[_Jim]

The same person who cleaned the toilets restocked the towel dispenser.

And?

THIS is bad HOW?

(Hint: WHAT do you scrub with and WHAT is your intent? To clean! HOPEFULLY this goal will have been reached!)

It also more than a little presumpuous to anticipate that EACH towel is handled during reloading thereby contaminating each one.

This process is also HIGHLY dependent on the towel refill package design/dispenser design.

[_Jim]

It wasn't so fortunate at the Cleveland airport during the blackout. Reportedly there wasn't a single flushable toilet in the whole place

Perhaps a good thing - 'lift' stations (lift stations pump sewage from *low* aras to high areas so's the sewage can flow to the plant) weren't functioning either (nor was the sewage treatment plan). New York at least has an ocean nearby they can 'release' that stuff into!

[OldPossum]

With reference to your statement, Even if you do wash your hands, as soon as you touch the door to leave, your hands are contaminated all over again, I do what Sloth does (post #67), i.e., go through all kinds of distortions to open that door to get out without touching the knob. I've seen too many instances of "Poppy" in a Jerry Steinfeld episode.

[OldPossum]

Oops, I didn't note that Sloth doesn't use the faucets. I do, with the use of paper towels (often I bring in my own since a lot of restrooms don't provide them). I then use these to open to door or, if I run out, I use my coat or shirt sleeves to open the door.

[OldPossum]

Damn, I keep missing things. Sloth does use the faucets when he deems them possible to use in a clean manner. Often, though, most faucets have to be touched. Using paper towels does the job for me.

[gcruse]

remember the last time you rubbed your eye and about five to ten minutes later it was seeping and maybe stinging - GERMS baby

Well, no. Germs don't burn your eyes, neither do they make them water, certainly not in a timespan of minutes. What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration you have transferred from around your eyes and from your hands into your eyes.

[Guna]

Well, I haven't tried that female sitting device either.

If the facility is particularly horrific, I try to "hover" very close to the lid to avoid actual contact - yet not cause any unseemly splashing effect. It is not easy being a female! This is why it takes us longer to get done.

[VRWC_minion]

Arriving HOURs before a flight (handling touching what: dozens of surfaces, luggage, steering wheel, public door nadles ) ... hours ON the flight (handling, again DOZENS of artilces ALREADY touched by Lord knows who) ... an hour, perhaps to DRIVE to destination (handling the rental car's steering wheel) -

The fewer places I touch in public the less chance I have of getting a staff infection. Airport bathrooms are about the worst places.

[_Jim]

The fewer places I touch in public the less chance I have of getting

Hmmm ... I wonder what's on your folding money - you *do* launder that stuff don't you *since* you don't know where it's been?

[_Jim]

What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration

... yet another good reason to 'wash your hands' at regular intervals ... (and ONE wonders what provides the living environment for 'germs' on one's hands. Now we also have a better idea of that.)

[_Jim]

What you are feeling after you rub your eyes is the salt in the perspiration

I don't think this ENTIRELY accounts for that either. I'VE GOTTEN sweat in my own eye before and the effect is *not* quite the same as the delayed effects (et al) from 'rubbing one's eyes' ...

[VRWC_minion]

The idea is to limit your exposure as much as possible. Not using the sink of a heavily used rest room is one way to reduce exposure. Handrails and other public places people frequently touch is another.

I agree, its not possible to eliminate all risks but it doesn't make sense to accept risks one can easily avoid.

[N. Theknow]

If the facility is particularly horrific, I try to "hover" very close to the lid to avoid actual contact - yet not cause any unseemly splashing effect. It is not easy being a female! This is why it takes us longer to get done.

Longer to get done?

All the seats should've been down, what took so long?

[Junior]

Probably French tourists...

[11th Earl of Mar]

I've seen too many instances of "Poppy" in a Jerry Steinfeld episode.

No kidding! LOL

Seeing that should cure anybody of not washing hands or of touching the doorknob on the way out!

[wakmah]

There is a thing here www.wakmah.co.uk

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I recently learned something from a plumber out here in the SoCal desert.....it's a cultural sort of thing that Latinos often use the paper, but don't flush it - it's either tossed on the floor of a public bathroom, or in a home, there's a box for it...but it's NOT flushed. Maybe back home, it saved digging another pit or something.

Wifey noticed that the stall at Hometown Buffet has a sign inside the door requesting "deposit soiled toilet paper in the commode".

Ah, multiculturalism...