Germophobes should not leave the house. Every surface you encounter, every micron of air you breathe, every microfiber of the clothing you and others wear is laden with germs. Germ is a general term for all microbes – both good and bad. They are a legitimate part of our ecosystem – and you NEED the good ones.
The tissue provided by donut shops is not to protect you from the server’s germs. It is to protect the confection in the bag from mixing with the rest, thereby ruining the flavor and experience. The store selling you the goods wants you to experience the donut as it should be experienced.
If the donut shop were concerned about bad germs, the servers would wear gloves, facemasks, aprons, and !then! the tissue and the bag.
You cannot possibly believe that the paper, which is most likely recycled from toilet tissue, old newspapers, old documents, cereal boxes is pure. Sure, they can disinfect it at the plant. They can expose the recycled pulp to UV rays to kill off microbes. But by the time the paper has passed through the wringer [which does not get disinfected daily], the press [which has so many inner parts covered in microbes], and the drying tables [some microbes LOVE heat!].....
You get my drift. So many places between creation of the paper to its destination [not to mention its previous life] for it to gather microbes [aka germs].
And you really think the tissue paper itself and the paper bag are pristine, and you want to look down on the server?
Seriously?