Check Up: Is Philadelphia the capital of spitting?
In an attempt to squeeze in some exercise, I took a brisk lunchtime walk down Broad Street recently. A few blocks into it, I was reminded of one of my pet peeves about Philadelphia.
In an attempt to squeeze in some exercise, I took a brisk lunchtime walk down Broad Street recently.
A few blocks into it, I was reminded of one of my pet peeves about Philadelphia.
At least once a block, some man - it's always a man - cleared his throat, launching a mound of gelatinous phlegm onto the sidewalk. I've seen men open car doors to spit, or just spit through the open windows. As a Midwesterner who has lived in the South and West, I'm repulsed anew each winter. Is Philadelphia the capital of spitting?
I realize no one can answer this, but as a medical writer, I wonder if there's a scientific reason to worry about all the sputum on our sidewalks.
The Chinese cracked down on public spitting during the SARS outbreak, but my request to Philly's Health Department went unanswered.
So I talked to Robert Bettiker, an infectious-disease doctor at Temple University Hospital. He told me that George Washington had tackled the subject. Actually, young George was required to copy Jesuit rules: ". . . If you see any filth or thick spittle, put your foot dexterously upon it; if it be upon the clothes of your companions, put it off privately; and if it be upon your own clothes, return thanks to him who puts it off."
That's worse than spit on the sidewalk, which Bettiker agrees is disgusting, but really more of an etiquette than a public-health problem. "Most people don't touch the bottom of their shoes," he said.
We could quibble about that, but Bettiker thinks it's a bigger deal to get blasted by a sneeze, which "spreads all kinds of little water droplets in what I call the snot radius."
Julie Paolini, director of communicable-disease control for the Montgomery County Health Department, would rather focus on asking people to wash their hands and to sneeze into a tissue that they throw away quickly. She doubts there's much that can be done about public spitting. "That's why it's important," she said, "for towns and cities to invest in street cleaning."
- Stacey Burling