With coronavirus death toll in the U.S. rising to 19, people are rushing to stock up on basic products such as hand soap, sanitizers, tissue papers, and many more. It got so bad that some stores are now limiting purchases of these products, more due to coronavirus fears. It didn’t take long before stores ran out of these products.
Coronavirus has caused hand sanitizer to be the one of the most demanded products. Unfortunately, sanitizer is out of stock or marked up on Amazon, Walmart.com, Bath and Body Works, Walgreens and other retailers. The shortage has led people to creating their own DIY hand sanitizers, using recipes from Twitter, Reddit, and countless others.
However, you may want to think twice before you join the DIY hand sanitzer bandwagon. According to medical experts, hand sanitizer isn’t the most effective way to clean your hands, washing them with plain old soap (you don’t even need anti-bacteria soap), or any soap and water is all you need. Second, it is difficult to get the right amount of ingredients you need to make hand sanitizer. For example, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, which store-bought hand sanitizers have. Trying to do this on your own may be difficult to pull off.
Instead of using just the hand sanitizers, here are other simple steps you can take to protect yourself from coronavirus (COVID19). Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor of Viral Pathogenesis at the University of Manitoba, also said that you’re better off using soap than trying to make your own hand sanitizer.
Below is a video of Dr. Jason Kindrachuk explaining why washing with soap is better than hand sanitizer.
