According to a new study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, a Dyson Airblade spreads 60 times more bugs than an old-fashioned warm-air model and 1,300 times more than paper towels.
And the jury’s still out on whether or not flushing a toilet with the cover up releases a plume of atomized urine and germs into the air. Unfortunately, most public toilets do not even have a cover you can close.
That sucks. I really like those driers.
Is this a surprise to anyone? Paper towels, you have one point of contact, and no dispersal.
Warm-air handdryers, you gotta touch the button, and then it blows whatever’s on your hands around the room.
Air-blade driers? You have a 100mph jet of cool air freaking blasting whatever’s on your hands all around the room at high speed.
Of course they’re worse.
Also those airblade driers have the freaking narrowest apertures. It’s just asking you and everyone else to rub your dirty hands all over the thing.
I just don’t wash my hands.
My feeling are mixed about this. Germs - I love, but pathogens - not so much.
The last time I was in an airport that had one I nearly—metaphorically—died for this very reason. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the people who faked washing their hands because-humans and then put their unwashed hands in it and had them knock around on the same surfaces mine were knocking around on. 
Pushing on the dirty soap dispenser button that everybody’s shitty hands have touched, only to have no soap come out? 
I try not to touch anything in a public bathroom with my hands if I can avoid it, but it took me a surprisingly long time to realize that we are all zipping, buttoning, and buckling our pants with our dirty hands before leaving the stall. 
How do you feel about pathogenic germs? Love/hate? 
Anyway, the idea that itty bitty things cause disease is called the “Germ Theory of Disease,” so the OP is not wrong in using the broader term germs rather than the subset “pathogen”.
Meh, have a shot of concrete and let your immune system do its job.
Even though @daneel’s response made me laugh aloud, I get that people get freaked out with public restrooms.
I preferred towels over those useless warm dryers and just like @OtherMichael, I enjoyed watching my skin get smooshed by the air of a jet engine. I never touched the sides and it never occurred to me that people stick their unwashed hands inside the narrow openings. Yuck.
I always use my foot to flush the toilet (standing far away as possible) and I wash my hands well in super hot water before drying. New it looks like I’m back to wasting paper. 
Oops. It was @LDoBe not @OtherMichael.
Backpack buddy:
These guys are the best hand dryers out there:
I can see why the Dyson spreads germs…
Yeah, I hate that stuff and now I’m rethinking that hatred.
True story. I once thought one of my students had a drinking problem because he always reeked of alcohol. It took me a few weeks to realize that as soon as he entered the classroom, he’d squirt out some sanitizer from the large jug that the previous teacher had left behind. Thank god I waited and watched, huh?
The best take really is think about what your hands have been touching all day, then think about where your junk has been (hanging out just chilling INSIDE YOUR PANTS) maybe wash your hands before going?
There’s a local BBQ place, with really spicy sauce, that recommends that very thing, on a sign in the men’s room.
Well, I mean, EVERYTHING I carry is multiuse.
My real backpack buddy is one of these
Just in case what? You ask. Anything, I say.
HAND SANITIZER IS EVIL
unless you don’t believe in evolution, but then you have to explain why you use the stuff in the first place
The last Airblade I had to use managed to blow noticeable amounts of water droplets onto my shirt.
Also, it’s remarkably easy to accidentally brush against the sides of the stupid things, making the whole “touchless” aspect moot anyway.
I know. Honestly, I’m not really on the fence because I know that I’ll never remember to actually buy any.
We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee. And if we’re a girl, before!
