If you put the lid down before you flush to protect yourself from all the dirtiness, doesn’t that mean the lid (which you have to touch to put up/down) is itself extremely dirty?

> If you put the lid down before you flush to protect yourself from all the dirtiness, doesn’t that mean the lid (which you have to touch to put up/down) is itself extremely dirty?

The parts of the lid that you touch to raise and lower it are probably relatively distant from the parts of the lid that would receive the brunt of any splashback.

The part I touch to lower is the top of the lid, so relatively distant. But the part I touch to raise is the underside of the lid, at the edge. While it might not be in the most direct line-of-fire, I would expect it would actually get a decent amount of particles because it is adjacent to an air gap, where pressure would escape. But I'm no aerodynamicist — just speculating!

Why would you touch the underside of the lid to raise the it? You can't even reach the underside properly before you've opened the lid.

In any case, just use a piece of toilet paper to touch the lid, if you are concerned.

Most of the spray will hit the broad inside of the lid.

When you move the lid, you only touch the outer rim at one or two places.

You can use a bit of toilet paper to protect your hands, and wash them afterwards, too.

Remember to wash your hands.

That works as long as you don't touch anything after opening the lid, before washing. Like your phone, for example.

Or the door