Thai researchers warn, don’t take off your mask in public toilets

A team of Thai researchers found in a study that without face masks, there was a 10% risk of being infected with Covid-19 in public toilets. Random?

The team, lead by a researcher from Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, found that the risk climbed to almost 100% if the Covid-19 infected person actually coughed or sneezed in the toilet. The study claimed, however, that if both wore N95 or surgical face masks, the risk was just 0.01%.

Now, the researchers are warning the public not to take off face masks while in public toilets. Thammanitchpol Denpetkul, a lecturer at the faculty of tropical medicine at Mahidol University, told the Bangkok Post that some masks are much more effective than others.

“Some cloth masks may not be good enough to protect against the virus … but if someone uses an N95 mask and wears it properly, the risk is one in 100,000.”

The study was published in the Journal of Water and Health.

The trend for Thailand’s daily new Covid infections is definitely heading down, for now. Despite the warnings of increased cases from some medical authorities in Thailand (up to 100,000 infections per day in one estimate), the trend over the past week has been down.

The current Omicron surge hit its peak on April 1 with 28,029 new infections but has been on a downward trajectory ever since. Today Thailand registered 18,892 new Covid infections but is still seeing a rising trend of 125 new Covid-related fatalities, the seventh day in a row where the number of deaths has been more than 100 people.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post