Guests using home restroom in covid times

July 1, 2020 10:55 AM

Would/do you allow guests who you socialize with outdoors to use the bathroom in your house?

We live in Portland Maine, US. We have gotten to the point in our Covid lifestyle that we have guests over, one or two at a time, to socialize outdoors in our yard. We don't share snacks or non-sealed drinks, and we maintain distance. Is it ok to allow these guests inside to use the bathroom, and if so, what precautions should we be taking?

Other possibly relevant facts: my wife is a dentist and going to work with extra safety measures in place, showering immediately on coming home. I don't work, but do all the shopping/errands outside the house. No one else lives with us. I am technically immune-comprised due to chemo five years ago, but also have not been sick once in those five years. The bathroom is our guest bath, and has none of our personal daily use items like toothbrushes in it.

I'm interested both in the yes/no aspect and what extra precautions you take if the answer is yes. Thanks for your time.

posted by donnagirl to Health & Fitness (28 answers total)

If it's your guest bath, I'd designate it guests only and avoid using it for several days before/after visitors. And have them sanitize hands on the way into the house.
posted by stray at 11:02 AM on July 1, 2020

If your guests are as careful as you are, they aren't going to want to go into your house to use the bathroom any more than you would want them to. This doesn't let you off the hook if you're socializing though. As someone who has had IBS and currently deals with chemo side effects, if I ask to use the bathroom, I really need to use it and I very likely can't wait. Obviously, you shouldn't interrogate your guests to determine how urgent their need for the bathroom is, so I think if you are going to have people over, even outside, the only decent thing to do is to have your bathroom available to them.

I will leave how to do so safely to others.
posted by FencingGal at 11:02 AM on July 1, 2020

We do, although we've only had one couple over in our yard so far. I set up paper towels in the designated "guest" bathroom so they weren't sharing cloth towels with us. We also set a pump bottle of hand sanitizer outside so anyone could use hand sanitizer before touching doorknobs to enter the house, use the facilities, wash hands, exit the house, and re-sanitize their hands. We don't have a ventilation fan in that bathroom but if we did, I probably would run it.

My spouse and I used the other, upstairs bathroom while they were here. After the guests left, I wiped down the doorknobs, toilet, light switch, and sink fixtures with disinfecting spray and called it good. Spouse and I are mid-30s with no health conditions.
posted by castlebravo at 11:02 AM on July 1, 2020

Seconding castlebravo. Exact same procedure.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:08 AM on July 1, 2020

Fecal transmission hasn't been a noted method for spread, and neither have fomites/touch. I would be more worried about aerosol transmission, either by the guest going into a house full of your aerosols, or by the guest leaving them lingering in your house. Keeping a mask on while inside helps them prevent spraying but doesn't help them from inhaling your aerosols. If you can air out the house as much as possible and keep fans on / windows open as much as possible that would help. Washing surfaces down with soap beforehand helps but it's assumed people are washing their hands afterwards. Having wipes for the doorknob would be useful.

Note that "not being sick" is not a good indicator of a healthy immune system. A vigorous immune response is what makes you feel sick, so counterintuitively the people who get the worst symptoms from flus, colds, etc. may actually have the "best" immune systems.
posted by benzenedream at 11:10 AM on July 1, 2020

keep the window open and a fan on pointed at it, that's the single best thing you can do to prevent a buildup of infectious airborne particles in the room.
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:10 AM on July 1, 2020

We have not allowed people to use our bathroom and have instead asked (required) them to pee outside in the backyard.
posted by crazy with stars at 11:20 AM on July 1, 2020

I've been a wreck about this. Our grown son moved out precipitously in March when things got bad (he had moved back home with us two years ago from another city to attend grad school here) so he wouldn't infect us (we are in New York City) and so far we've had one visit with him, on our stoop, both masked, 9 feet away from each other. At that time he didn't ask to use the bathroom. I've been so upset about making him into a Germ Vector, but of course he understands.

Anyway -- we live in a brownstone with two bathrooms, neither of which has a window. We have the backyard, and I have purchased (but not received yet) a PORTABLE CAMPING TOILET!!! and "privacy pop-up tent" which I am going to put in our backyard! the plan is, when he visits again, he can quickly walk through the house and into the backyard and, if need be, use this camping toilet outside. At first I felt like a nut for doing this (as people I know are going to stores all the time, even the subway!! [not me]) but now I'm hearing from people, "that's a good idea!" so I don't feel so crazy anymore.

I am waiting to get information about how many viral particles you need to get infected, etc. We just don't have all the information we need, and I would rather be safe than you know what. I am very heartened to read these responses. I was thinking I'd be reading, "of COURSE you should let people inside to use your bathroom!" Melissa Clark, food writer for the NY Times, has an article this week about how to have a safe barbeque, and she talks about how she cleans her bathroom and opens a window etc., and my thought is, "NO."

However, if I had a SPARE bathroom with a WINDOW that I could leave open and not go in there for, say, 3 days afterward, I might let somebody in my bathroom.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:49 AM on July 1, 2020

I don't think it is crazy to set up an outdoor camping toilet and privacy shield. We've considered it but don't plan on having many visitors onsite.
posted by benzenedream at 11:57 AM on July 1, 2020

I disagree with FencingGal, who says if you're going to have people over you need to make the bathroom available to them and not discuss what their needs are. I know people who have had people over and told them in advance that they won't be able to use the bathroom. Those people come over for a short while and then get back in their cars and go home if they have to use the bathroom. also, the visits are kept short even though they're outside because that too seems like the safe way to go now.
posted by DMelanogaster at 12:00 PM on July 1, 2020

I go to my friend's house every week and have drinks on her back deck. If I need to use her bathroom I put on my mask, sanitize my hands, go straight to the (guest) bathroom on the first floor, wash my hands when I'm done and use a disposable towel to dry my hands, and walk right back outside.

She sanitizes her house constantly - she always has due to her WFH situation, and now she's doubled-down.

I haven't been in anyone else's house, and no one has been in mine.
posted by lyssabee at 12:25 PM on July 1, 2020

No. We're not letting anyone inside our home. We have been over to one friend's house who offered to let us pee in the yard (which we did). I would go home before I'd enter someone else's house. Peeing in the yard is easiest if it's dusk/evening!
posted by stellaluna at 12:45 PM on July 1, 2020

Yes, I will let people use my bathroom, with no special precautions other than not being in the house at the same time. It appears that the overwhelming majority of transmission is through the respiratory system so I'm just not concerned.

Case loads ARE low in my area. If they were not I wouldn't let people in my house, but I also wouldn't be hanging out with them outside.
posted by metasarah at 1:08 PM on July 1, 2020

I live in a dense city neighborhood and having people pee in my backyard is not gonna fly with my neighbors. When I have had people socialize in the yard with me, I allow them to use the bathroom in the house. They go in by themselves, wear masks and sanitize their hands before going in. Because I am primarily concerned with person-to-person aerosol transmission and I live alone, this is enough precaution for me to feel comfortable with, but your comfort level may vary and that's okay!
posted by fancypants at 1:22 PM on July 1, 2020

Obviously this is a very YMMV question, but I feel that if your wife is a working dentist, letting guests carefully and judiciously use the bathroom adds perhaps not negligible risk, but negligible extra risk. (How many people is she sharing a bathroom with when she uses it at work?) The calculation might be different if you were both truly isolating. Of course, though, a lot of this is about your own assessment and comfort level w/r/t the potential health vulnerability you mentioned.
posted by dusty potato at 1:30 PM on July 1, 2020

I have had one person come for an outdoor visit, and she used my guest bathroom, paper towels, sanitizer, wore her mask. But I would have said no if she had been visiting with others; she and I have both only been with our own households since March.
posted by assenav at 1:46 PM on July 1, 2020

We've also ordered a camping commode, which we can put over on the side of the house just inside the gate, where it's very private. I have a USB-rechargeable drinking water faucet the fits the necks of 5gal water jugs that I'll make a sink from (I already do this next to my potting bench in the back yard since I don't have a sink there, it works great), and I will cover the button with Press'n'Seal so I can remove and throw away after use.

We have one family member on immunosuppressants so we are stuck until a vaccine; this just seems like the best way to ease a little bit of the isolation but also removes as many question marks as possible.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:53 PM on July 1, 2020

I knew you wouldn't let me down! The variety of answers is helpful and gives me some ideas to implement. Paper towels, window open, and just not using it myself (!) were all really helpful ideas, and I also feel more confident just saying no if I don't feel comfortable.
posted by donnagirl at 2:56 PM on July 1, 2020

I'm not an epidemiologist, just a very cautious person, but I would just say keep an eye on whatever fresh science you can find before deciding open windows and other airflow solutions are a good idea versus possibly very much not.

It sucks because we don't HAVE a lot of great science on this yet, but droplet distribution models are the reason I'm going to make my still-hypothetical guests pee in a bucket next to my trash cans, which is not a decision I made lightly.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:29 PM on July 1, 2020

my suggestion re windows was made based on advice given by an aerosol scientist who has been interviewed several times in the NYT regarding the movement of airborne particles as a factor in COVID transmission. The specific question she'd been asked was about how to reduce risk of having housecleaners come inside one's home. "Leave the house an hour or two before they come, have all windows open with fans on, and don't come back in for an hour or two after they leave" were her specific recommendations.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:45 PM on July 1, 2020

No, unless the bathroom is a secondary one that you do not use or can ignore for days afterward, AND has entryway access that means they don't enter the airspace of the rest of your home where you live. Otherwise, while you might be risking quite as much as allowing them in your home, you'd certainly be throwing most of your caution right out the window.
posted by stormyteal at 6:11 PM on July 1, 2020

I live alone and have been very careful for 4+ months. In the last few weeks I've had several guests, one at a time, visit on my balcony (which has plenty of room). I wipe down all surfaces (doorknobs, etc) with bleach before and after visits. Guests are welcome to use my (only) bath. I have paper towels and hand sanitizer, and wipe surfaces down before I use the bath or after they leave, whichever comes first. One of my best friends is an epidemiologist, and doesn't feel this is particularly risky.
posted by cyndigo at 9:08 PM on July 1, 2020

I couldn't in good conscience refuse someone I was hosting who asked to use my toilet. I lean towards that they wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary. This has happened once, and we ourselves were not in the house, the window was open and they told us they cleaned surfaces afterwords. I am willing to take that on good faith (but could have chosen to clean up again if I had wanted to).
posted by plonkee at 10:08 AM on July 2, 2020

metasarah, who got 6 favorites, says:

"Yes, I will let people use my bathroom, with no special precautions other than not being in the house at the same time. It appears that the overwhelming majority of transmission is through the respiratory system so I'm just not concerned."

We who are talking about aerosolized virus ARE talking about respiratory transmission. The idea is that the infected person is breathing while in the bathroom, the aerosolized virus lingers in the air, and then you or somebody else goes into the bathroom and breathes those aerosolized droplets. The transmission is from one person's respiratory system to another's.
posted by DMelanogaster at 3:04 PM on July 2, 2020

DMelanogaster, while it does seem that the virus can linger in the air for up to three hours, it does not appear that it is a typical route of transmission when not actually sharing a space with an infected person simultaneously, thankfully.
posted by metasarah at 5:02 AM on July 3, 2020

A new study out a couple days ago really hammers the point that interhuman airborne transmission is the dominant form of transmission and that masks make a significant difference. If you are going to allow people to use your bathroom, make sure they put on a mask, and obviously don't go hang out in the bathroom with them. Asking them to wipe things down with a Clorox wipe or what have you afterwards probably isn't a terrible idea either.
posted by fancypants at 9:14 AM on July 3, 2020

We've let our one visitor so far use the bathroom. But mostly because it was our house or the public restroom on the ferry. I feel our house is safer for them. If a visitor could just go home easily, I'd go with that. They kept a mask on and were in the house for a short amount of time (and we hadn't been in the house for an hour or two). I think erring on the side of airing things out before and after and staying masked should suffice for those who really need to use it.
posted by Margalo Epps at 4:36 PM on July 10, 2020

Just back to outline our chosen approach in case it's helpful to others.

- All surfaces wiped down in the bathroom a couple hours before guests, window opened and door closed.
- We put hand sanitizer by the back door (closest to the bathroom and the yard where we are hanging out). Guests sanitize, mask up, enter house.
- In the bathroom we've removed hand towels and left a stack of paper towels on the sink.
- After guests are gone, the room gets a round of Lysol/wiping down, door shut and then we don't use it for three days.

I am comforted by having a process. No one has objected.
posted by donnagirl at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2020