With all the new technology in restroom hand driers, you might think blowers are more hygienic than a simple sheet of paper. Not so, says Rodney Lee Thompson, a hospital epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Go to any sports stadium and watch people washing their hands in the bathroom, and you’ll likely switch to paper, notes Dr. Thompson. “The trouble with blowers is that they take so long,” he says. “Most people dry their hands for a bit, then wipe them on their dirty jeans, or open the door with their still-wet hands.” Maybe they even decide not to wash altogether to save time.
Meanwhile, time-consuming, loud “blowers turn people off,” he says. “But there is no downside to the paper towel, psychologically.”