COVID-19 has made things much worse. Market reports show that sales of urine funnels, external catheters and other restroom substitutes have skyrocketed during the pandemic.
Public urination is on the rise in New York City, and leaders in Montpelier, Vermont, fear that closures have left the city without an adequate restroom supply. In Chicago, delivery drivers can’t use the restrooms at restaurants when they pick up food, leaving some to resort to urinating in alleys.
‘Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t’
Governments and businesses alike are justifiably concerned about the risk of COVID-19 transmission in restrooms. Research has found that flushing creates “toilet plumes” that can spread particles carrying the coronavirus.
Places that do have open restrooms often need to limit occupancy and clean them frequently. Soifer said some restrooms have blocked off every other urinal, a tactic known as “social piss-tancing.”
But closing restrooms is its own public health risk. If delivery drivers, for instance, don’t have a place to safely relieve themselves and wash their hands, they risk spreading infection via the food and packages they drop off. Waste that ends up in the streets also could contribute to the spread of COVID-19 or other diseases.
“It's damned if you do, damned if you don't,” Soifer said.
Ben Valdez, a Los Angeles-based ride-hailing driver and an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United, said he carries an empty bottle in the car in case of emergency — along with lots of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer.
“I literally have to plan my evening around being near a restroom,” he said “If I know I have no restroom available to me, I can't drink anything or eat anything. I've had numerous occasions where I've had to decline a ride because I've been in that situation.”
Valdez said many gas stations now have “out of order” signs on their restrooms — likely an effort to limit transmission risk rather than an actual plumbing issue. Some hotels have limited access to lobby restrooms as well. With a driving radius that often reaches 100 miles, Valdez has found no institutions he can consistently count on to find a facility.
In San Francisco, officials have expanded the city’s Pit Stop program, which they think is a leading model for providing restroom access. The city set up 37 toilets to bolster the 24 already in place before the pandemic. The toilets are staffed by nonprofit partners, who clean them between each use and monitor for drug use and overdoses.
Since the city began staffing toilets, said Beth Rubenstein, spokesperson for the San Francisco Public Works Department, the number of flushes per day went up “exponentially.” In neighborhoods where the Pit Stop toilets have been installed, the city has seen fewer calls for waste cleanup on the streets.
“It ensures cleanliness and safety,” Rubenstein said. “I know that the increased number of toilets [during the pandemic] has been very much used. Our essential workers use them as well, including our Public Works staff.”
Potty Training
The pandemic has brought the restroom issue into focus for many people — landscapers, utility workers, runners, walkers and cyclists. But for some, restroom equity will remain an issue even when COVID-19 is no longer a threat.
“Even before this pandemic, I couldn’t hardly go anywhere to use a restroom without having to make a purchase,” said Williams, the Seattle courier. “Unless you’re buying a cup of coffee, they won’t let you use a restroom.”
Soifer, the restroom advocate, has long encouraged cities to install gender-neutral, single-stall, fully enclosed restrooms — a model that looks increasingly attractive as experts worry about crowded public facilities. He hopes that the pandemic prompts governments to take a renewed look at the issue of public restrooms.
“Bathroom issues have always been in the background because we’re so puritanical in the U.S.,” he said. “But there are so many problems with turning it over to the private sector.”
More Articles
- Monetary Policy Report Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Expectations for Future Growth Were Mostly Unchanged
- Stateline: Search and Rescue Teams, Already Stretched Thin, See Surge in Calls
- Weekly National Summary of Week 50: Outpatient Illness Surveillance, Geographic Spread, Mortality Surveillance
- David Westheimer's Magic Mystery Honeymoon
- Gulliver’s Gate: New York’s Magical Miniature World Where You Could Spend Weeks Here and Still Uncover New Things
- Lost: An Incredible Emporium
- Jo Freeman's Adventures in Hillaryland
- Artistic Interiors at the Met Museum: Satinwood and Purpleheart with Mother-of-Pearl Inlays, Depictions of Hand Mirrors, Scissors, Hair Combs, Brooches, Necklaces, and Earrings
- Demand-Price Parking: Cities Try $6, $8 Hourly Parking to Cut Congestion, Pollution
- New Year's Peeve; Forgetting Self-Improvement Vows