Just be sure to disinfect after extracting slivers! 
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Bottom line there: yes, it helps but.
Buts include:
"The research found that putting the toilet lid down reduced the number of both visible and smaller droplets during and after flushing by 30-60%. However, use of the lid also increased the diameter and concentration of the bacteria in these droplets.
“It was also found that airborne microdroplets were detected for 16 minutes after flushing the toilet with the lid down, 11 minutes longer than when the toilet was flushed with the lid up. The researchers suggest that this could be due to particles being re-aerosolised from surfaces rather than being created by the turbulence of the toilet flushing. Alternatively, the researchers suggest that airborne particles could stick together, or agglomerate, which would cause them to remain airborne for longer.”
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In case you haven’t clicked through to see it, here’s a gif of the video linked in the article:
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Also try not to think about what might be on the underside of that lid almost(?) touching your back when you’re sitting on the john…
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Interesting! Summarized even more concisely, using a lid reduces the total number of particles by 50% but the (smaller number of) particles stuck around 3x longer than without the lid.
I wonder, then, if it’s better overall to NOT use the lid but rather have a decent bath fan since it may well run long enough to get the initial burst of particles but will likely not run long enough to capture them all in the 3x longer timeframe. Huh.
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So, are squat toilets better?
One half of the planet wants to know.
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Wait until you find out about those dyson hand dryers - for those times you absolutely, positively, want to spread feces
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I started doing that during the time we had no hot water in the bathroom sink. (Hot water on a toothbrush makes the bristles extra soft.) After it was finally fixed, I found myself in someone’s way every time I brushed my teeth up there, so went back to using the kitchen sink.
Having only one bathroom is bad enough w/the two of us, but it was impossible while my mom was still living. Were I rich, we’d have a ground floor bath, too, also.
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Now close the lid!
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…and wash your damn hands!
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Correctly!
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Contrary to what the label on the air dryer says, paper towels are much more sanitary than air dryers.
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But then what’s the thirsty cat supposed to do!
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commercial toilets. not home. much ado about nothing.
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Oh? How much less does this happen with home toilets?
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This is why bathroom ventilation is so important.
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Leave that lid up! You don’t want your immune system getting lazy and soft, do you?
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well, the study doesn’t address that, and that’s my question. commercial toilets are much more powerful and splashy than home ones.
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Something tells me the primary result of this be people flushing less, and instead leaving it for the next person (as many already do…)
I wish reporters would takr this opportunity to highlight some the experiments in institutional and municipal composting toilets. Less water quite often makes things much more sanitary!
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Oh no, what a public health crisis. Everyone, don’t use toilets! Poop in the alleys, in the parking garages, in the parks, anywhere where you won’t send microscopic particles into the air!
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