Shut down electric hand dryers - Stop COVID19 airborne infection
The Issue
‘Turn electric hand dryers off during the COVID19 epidemic‘ was the recommendation by the government’s own special advisory group the Environmental and Modelling Group (1-4). The government not only ignored this repeated recommendation, in fact they did the exact opposite and following lobbying from the dryer manufacturers changed the advice from only drying with hand towels to the use of hand dryers (5).
It seems the government cares more about avoiding litigation from hand dryer manufacturers than stopping the virus and saving lives.
ELECTRIC HAND DRYERS MUST BE TURNED OFF TO BREAK THE CHAIN OF COVID19 TRANSMISSION.
Why is this? A single person with COVID19 not washing their hands with 100% efficiency (which is usually the case) then using an electric hand dryer could contaminate the air and infect everyone who uses the same washroom over the next 3 hours. No track or trace system will identify where this has happened. Airborne spread of COVID19 from hand dryers might explain big outbreaks and may even explain which COVID19 has been so difficult to control compared to SARS in 2003. Hand dryers are used in all major transport hubs, sporting venues, supermarkets, most work places - even hospitals - often in poorly ventilated rooms - may be an important source of unexplained infections.
Here is the detail and evidence:
The electric hand dryer picks up microorganisms such as COVID19 from hands during washing and spins them into infected microdroplets or aerosols (6), COVID19 in contaminated aerosols survives for 3 hours floating about in the misty hot air eddies (7) of poorly ventilated washrooms.
Infected aerosols are known to be the most dangerous cross infection risk for COVID which is why there is special aerosol proof PPE in hospitals for staff when dealing with aerosols generating procedures. There is no reason why infected aerosols would not be similarly dangerous outside of hospitals. In fact the importance of aerosol airborne infection and the experts’ frustration that this hasn’t been taken seriously by the government or the WHO has recently been emphasised by over 200 scientists signing a letter published in Clinical Infectious Diseases (8).
Very recent scientific results has added further to the level of concern, by showing that people who test positive for the virus but who don’t get admitted to hospital, who could be free of symptoms and out and about using public toilets, have a higher burden of viral load than those admitted to hospital, and are therefore likely to create heavily infected aerosols if they use hand dryers. As the paper said “Patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms may represent the most important ‘overlooked’ source of shedding given the higher viral load.”
The UK government (and others, including the WHO) must now respect the scientific evidence, protect the public and ensure all hand dryers are turned off. This could be quickly and easily done by removal of fuses which would cost nothing. This would be a temporary measure until either dryers have been adapted to be safe by filterIng emissions or until the COVID19 risk has cleared. Everyone should carry a small hand cloth to dry their hands when out and about, to be taken home, washed and reused with their face covering. The British public has adapted quickly to using face coverings to stay safe; we will manage to carry a small cloth to do the same.
THIS PETITION DEMANDS THE GOVERNMENT ACTS ON SPECIALIST ADVICE AND SHUTS DOWN ELECTRIC HAND DRYERS.
Please support this petition and share with everyone you know over as many platforms as possible. Until the government acts we are all at risk whenever we use a public washroom. Be alert.
5. https://www.twinfm.com/article/uk-government-confirming-safe-use-of-hand-dryers-during-pandemic
6. Best et al J Hosp Infect. 2014 Dec;88(4):199-206. Microbiological comparison of hand-drying methods: the potential for contamination of the environment, user, and bystander.
7. van Doremalen et al 2020 Mar; New England Journal of medicine. Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
8. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa939
9. https://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(20)30328-X/fulltext
1,081
The Issue
‘Turn electric hand dryers off during the COVID19 epidemic‘ was the recommendation by the government’s own special advisory group the Environmental and Modelling Group (1-4). The government not only ignored this repeated recommendation, in fact they did the exact opposite and following lobbying from the dryer manufacturers changed the advice from only drying with hand towels to the use of hand dryers (5).
It seems the government cares more about avoiding litigation from hand dryer manufacturers than stopping the virus and saving lives.
ELECTRIC HAND DRYERS MUST BE TURNED OFF TO BREAK THE CHAIN OF COVID19 TRANSMISSION.
Why is this? A single person with COVID19 not washing their hands with 100% efficiency (which is usually the case) then using an electric hand dryer could contaminate the air and infect everyone who uses the same washroom over the next 3 hours. No track or trace system will identify where this has happened. Airborne spread of COVID19 from hand dryers might explain big outbreaks and may even explain which COVID19 has been so difficult to control compared to SARS in 2003. Hand dryers are used in all major transport hubs, sporting venues, supermarkets, most work places - even hospitals - often in poorly ventilated rooms - may be an important source of unexplained infections.
Here is the detail and evidence:
The electric hand dryer picks up microorganisms such as COVID19 from hands during washing and spins them into infected microdroplets or aerosols (6), COVID19 in contaminated aerosols survives for 3 hours floating about in the misty hot air eddies (7) of poorly ventilated washrooms.
Infected aerosols are known to be the most dangerous cross infection risk for COVID which is why there is special aerosol proof PPE in hospitals for staff when dealing with aerosols generating procedures. There is no reason why infected aerosols would not be similarly dangerous outside of hospitals. In fact the importance of aerosol airborne infection and the experts’ frustration that this hasn’t been taken seriously by the government or the WHO has recently been emphasised by over 200 scientists signing a letter published in Clinical Infectious Diseases (8).
Very recent scientific results has added further to the level of concern, by showing that people who test positive for the virus but who don’t get admitted to hospital, who could be free of symptoms and out and about using public toilets, have a higher burden of viral load than those admitted to hospital, and are therefore likely to create heavily infected aerosols if they use hand dryers. As the paper said “Patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms may represent the most important ‘overlooked’ source of shedding given the higher viral load.”
The UK government (and others, including the WHO) must now respect the scientific evidence, protect the public and ensure all hand dryers are turned off. This could be quickly and easily done by removal of fuses which would cost nothing. This would be a temporary measure until either dryers have been adapted to be safe by filterIng emissions or until the COVID19 risk has cleared. Everyone should carry a small hand cloth to dry their hands when out and about, to be taken home, washed and reused with their face covering. The British public has adapted quickly to using face coverings to stay safe; we will manage to carry a small cloth to do the same.
THIS PETITION DEMANDS THE GOVERNMENT ACTS ON SPECIALIST ADVICE AND SHUTS DOWN ELECTRIC HAND DRYERS.
Please support this petition and share with everyone you know over as many platforms as possible. Until the government acts we are all at risk whenever we use a public washroom. Be alert.
5. https://www.twinfm.com/article/uk-government-confirming-safe-use-of-hand-dryers-during-pandemic
6. Best et al J Hosp Infect. 2014 Dec;88(4):199-206. Microbiological comparison of hand-drying methods: the potential for contamination of the environment, user, and bystander.
7. van Doremalen et al 2020 Mar; New England Journal of medicine. Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
8. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa939
9. https://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(20)30328-X/fulltext
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Petition created on 11 March 2020