The economic cost of closing public toilets: viral case reignites the debate

The bill for closed toilets: when the pandemic left Charo with no options

The pandemic left a legacy that no macro indicator captures: the mass closure of public toilets in commercial premises. A recently resurfaced video shows a woman, Charo, who, unable to use a supermarket toilet – closed under ELbichito protocols – ends up defecating in a corner. The incident, dating back roughly four years, once again raises the hidden costs of decisions made in emergencies.

Closed toilets, open externalities

During the first months of the pandemic, many supermarkets shut their public restrooms on the grounds of reducing the spread of the bicho. The measure, adopted without impact studies, generated a negative externality: citizens who, faced with physiological urgency and no nearby alternatives, resort to unhygienic practices. Charo's video is just one example circulating since then, but its persistence online suggests the phenomenon was not isolated.

The costs for businesses are not trivial: extra cleaning, fruta damage and potential legal liability. Yet no official analysis has quantified the theoretical savings against the real cost of keeping toilets open with enhanced hygiene measures.

A debate that never expires

Those who defend the restrictions argue they saved lives and that the incident is anecdotal. But the recurrence of the debate suggests otherwise: the perception that the measure was disproportionate and failed to consider users' basic dignity. The video has also been shared with connotations ranging from criticism of health management to contempt for the person affected, which shifts focus away from the real problem: the lack of accessible infrastructure.

With the pandemic now a distant memory for many, supermarket toilets have mostly peine. But Charo's incident, and others like it, stand as testimony that emergency decisions have consequences no macro data captures. As the economy forgets the hidden costs, videos like this will keep resurfacing from time to time, reminding us that closing a toilet also has a price.