Well. I can personally vouch for it being a thing when I was a kid. Beats the hell out of a grocery bag.

Depends on the height of your bucket. Imagine a little kid sitting in bed. They need something low and lightweight. Our bucket was too high to be practical

We just took the bag of garbage out and used the bathroom trashcan for stomach bugs. It's small, can be moved right next to the bed, and wont ever hold anything not gross (unless you move -- and then it'll probably hold your sponges, brushes and cleaners). Also, in our house, everybody was expected to try to make it to the toilet, including kids. You start puking, you get ushered to the toilet with the trashcan held below you.

All of this makes sense because norovirus is super contagious.

Used metal mixing bowels the few times I threw up as a kid. Wife used metal mixing bowels while we were married, I never threw up as am adult.

They hold a lot of liquid and can be cleaned with bleach.

My parents always gave me cooking pots. Small to medium sized ones with two handles are easy to grab and easy to clean. If you need to "use" it repeatedly, you can just put boiling water in it in between uses