Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Corona: Air quality in mikveh

26 April, 2020

Question:

Hi. I was just wondering about the air quality in the Mikvah. Say a woman has the virus and doesn’t know … it’s in the air and usually there are no windows in these rooms … And virus could be in the air …

Also women who do use the Mikvah .. and later develop covid signs .. are they being tracked?

I’m sorry, I skipped one month and have to go next week and I’m very nervous to go.

Thank you


Answer:

We appreciate the sensitive nature of this question.

There are a lot of questions about what it means for the Coronavirus to be “in the air.” Current medical consensus is that the greatest concern is transmission from person to person via droplets, which fall quickly out of the air. For Yoetzet Halacha Dr. Deena Zimmerman’s discussion of Coronavirus transmission, please see here.

Social distancing is the most effective method of preventing droplet spread. For this reason, mikva’ot must adopt careful social distancing practices, even between the immersing woman and the attendant, and attendants should wear masks.

Mikva’ot are taking additional precautions as well. To reduce the possibility of contracting infection from contact with surfaces, preparation rooms are disinfected between women.

As a safeguard against the possibility, however remote, of non-droplet transmission through the air, women prepare at home to minimize time spent at the mikveh, and mikva’ot can increase ventilation by opening doors or windows as much as possible. Women who are particularly concerned can wear their masks at the mikveh, except for when they are in the water.

Tracking of women who develop Covid varies from place to place.

There are no absolute guarantees. However, these protective measures are considered significant enough by both halachic and medical authorities to allow for mikva’ot to remain open.

For more information on mikveh and Coronavirus, please see here. You can use our checklist to confirm that your mikveh follows best practices. Please be back in touch with any further questions.


This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.

For further questions or comments: 

The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.


Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.


Accessibility Toolbar