PUBLIC loos could be spreading coronavirus through germs on surfaces and faecal matter, documents from Sage have warned.
Toilets in public places have begun to reopen after Brits started doing their business in parks, beauty spots and people’s doorsteps.
Sage documents warned: “Public toilets are a potential vector for transmission because of the stacked risk of aerosol presence, faecal matter, frequently touched surfaces, confined spaces and public queuing.”
Royal Parks started reopening their loos as transmission of the virus fell – to stop people using the parks as a public toilet.
Some drunk people even urinated and defecated on people’s doorsteps.
Public toilets are allowed to stay open but must follow covid-secure rules such as extra cleaning and one-in-one-out rules if there is not enough room for people to move about.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said last week: “On toilets, I should emphasise that toilets don’t fall within my ministerial portfolio aside from the royal parks which is one of DCMS arms length bodies.
“I know at DCLG the Secretary of state has set very clear guidance that they should be opening those toilets, and I do agree with that.”
Pubs will be allowed to open from July 4 – meaning Brits caught out can dive into their local boozer.
But they might not be allowed to nip to the loo if the venue is already at the limit of people permitted at anyone time.
The charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK urged local councils and shopping centres to open public toilets “as soon as they can, if social distancing measures are safely put in place”.
However, cash-strapped councils will have to fork out for staff to make sure they are regularly cleaned, and people can social distance as best they can.
People in England are allowed to go to a friend’s home to use the loo if they are out.
Earlier this month, more than 70 fines of £150 were handed out to people urinating and littering in London Fields and the side streets around the park in just one weekend.
The problem of people urinating in public has become so bad that Hackney Council ran out of paper to issue fines during one weekend at the beginning of June, according to Hackney Citizen.
The council said it is investigating further legal measures to tackle the issues – adding it will recruit more enforcement officers for the borough’s parks and other areas over the summer.
