This whole thread is a chilul Hashem. I urge the YWN editors to remove it immediately.
Why, you ask, is this a chilul Hashem? Because this question should have been addressed and settled by the time Louis Pasteur announced the germ theory of disease in the 19th Century (or the 56th Century, if you prefer). It probably was addressed, and the halachic questions are well-settled, but a small handful of schmendricks think it is worth revisiting a century or more after it should have been – and surely was – settled.
And if there are some people at your synagogue who do not understand that they should not leave used tissues in a public place, ask them to find another place to daven.