Leaving the bathroom with wet hands, dripping water on everything that is touched is inconvenient and wouldn’t happen if paper towels were in the bathrooms. Because of the lack of paper towels, people are going to class with wet, soaking hands.
At WJ, instead of having paper towels in the bathrooms, there are hand dryers. While hand dryers seem to be the more eco-friendly option, they cause health concerns. According to health experts, hand dryers recirculate germs around the bathroom and put them back onto hands. As well as contaminating hands, hand dryers contaminate nearby surfaces around the bathroom.
In the middle of a global pandemic, having germs recirculate a room, specifically the bathroom is the opposite of ideal. Washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds has been one of the best ways to prevent infection from Covid-19. As the CDC guidelines continue to become more relaxed, keeping hands clean to stop the spread of the virus is still very important and a crucial way to fight against the virus. Our hands touch a variety of different surfaces around the school throughout the day and so it is key that after our hands are washed correctly, they are dried correctly. Studies have shown paper towels reduce bacteria transmission by 76% to 77%.
Along with rising health concerns, the hand dryers that are in the bathrooms aren’t very effective. The amount of time it takes to dry hands with paper towels is significantly less than it takes to dry hands with hand dryers. Regardless of how long hands are put under the dryers, they are never left completely dry. People are still having to dry excess water on their clothes after using hand dryers.
Hand dryers also have limited use. A hand dryer is an electronic machine, which is often out of order and broken. Paper towels don’t have that limitation and are always working. Also if someone were to spill something or if someone’s nose were to start bleeding, hand dryers would be completely useless. The sole purpose of hand dryers is to dry hands.
Paper towels make little to no noise when they are used. Hand dryers make annoying, loud noises every time they are used.
Unlike other bathrooms at WJ, the stadium bathrooms outside do have paper towels. This makes the stadium bathrooms easier to use, more hygienic, quieter and favorable, just like every bathroom at WJ should be.
