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If spread of COVID19 is mostly person to person, why do establishments strongly discourage people from using their public bathrooms, particularly ones where restroom occupancy is one at a time?
There are two major modes of transmission for the virus. The first one is from exhaled breath--the so called infectious respiratory droplet transmission mechanism can be minimized by universal masking and maintaining physical distance. The other mode of transmission is from touching objects that can be contaminated by the virus, where infectious respiratory droplets on surfaces that can be picked up by others. For common surfaces, such as the restroom which may not be decontaminated between each and every single use, there is the risk that someone will contact infectious viruses on those surfaces. Thereby, making the observation of hand hygiene (washing hands with soap and water or using hand sanitizers) and frequent cleaning and decontamination very important. If that establishment is not able to direct the resources (very significant manpower and time) toward cleaning and disinfecting tables, chairs, bathrooms, railings, walls, other counter surfaces, etc. then a lapse in the decontamination of any of those surfaces presents a risk for a transmitted infection.
