“Hand Sanitizers: Are they really effective for Sanitizing?”

In our world today, the “new normal” includes really being conscious of your health and sanitary conditions due to the deadly virus, the Coronavirus or COVID-19 who we unfortunately still do not have a vaccine and medicine to fight it off with.

What we can do though as the bare minimum to protect ourselves from getting infected with the virus as well as our families and loved ones is to properly sanitize ourselves and follow the health and distancing protocols created by our government and health care professionals. Now with the sanitation part, aside from cleaning and thoroughly disinfecting our homes and work places, we of course should also properly sanitize ourselves most especially our hands since we use these body parts the most when working or doing our errands outside the safeties of our houses.

A lot of us use either Ethanol or Ethyl Alcohol products to clean our hands of the possible virus particles sticking to them or by using soaps as washing our hands with Antibacterial soaps is also a very good way to make sure that we remain clean and sanitized and it is also very much recommended to be done by the World Health Organization and the health care professionals in our country. What if we don’t have any Ethyl Alcohol products or Antibacterial soaps available around us though? Well, maybe we can use hand sanitizers instead? The big question though is if hand sanitizers are really effective when it comes to sanitizing? Are they as effective as Ethyl Alcohol products and Antibacterial soaps when it comes to disinfecting?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Question & Answer blog about hand sanitizers, there are currently no hand-sanitizers that have been approved by the FDA to treat or prevent COVID-19 rather the FDA strongly recommends washing your hands instead with Antibacterial soap rather than using a hand sanitizer for sanitizing or cleaning your hands. Additionally, Rush University Medical Center states that though hand sanitizers are effective in a hospital setting in helping prevent the transfer and spread of the virus, outside the hospitals, hand sanitizers haven’t been shown to be as effective (or even more effective than) as disinfecting soaps when it comes to sanitizing and preventing the spread of the virus.

You also need to remember that hand sanitizers, as stated by the CDC may not be as effective as we think they are if our hands are visibly dirty or greasy.

You can still use hand sanitizers though according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) most especially if you are currently in a location or event where you can’t wash your hands (i.e: in your car or in a grocery) or don’t have an Ethyl Alcohol product that you can use to better sanitize your hands with, PROVIDED the hand sanitizers you’ll be using are alcohol based hand sanitizers that contain at least 60% of Ethanol or Isopropyl alcohol.

Hand sanitizers that contain chemicals aside from Ethanol or Isopropyl alcohol are not legally marketed and according to the FDA should not be used as they can do our bodies more harm than good when used long term.

Furthermore, according to an online article by Quality Logo Products and a Vivo Clinical Testing, hand sanitizers can actually be effective when it comes to sanitizing, with the hand sanitizers possibly removing almost 97.72% of bacteria on our hands IF the hand sanitizers are used correctly and properly.

Here are the proper steps recommended by the CDC when using hand sanitizers on our hands:

1.Check the label for how much to use and apply the product to the palm of one hand.

2.Rub your hands together.

3.Rub the product over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until your hands are dry, about 20 seconds.

If you are in a location or position where you can wash your hands though, CDC and even the Keck Medicine of USC (University of Southern California) both emphasize that ultimately the best way to sanitize yourself and prevent the spread of the virus is to simply wash your hands thoroughly and properly with a disinfectant or antibacterial soap and if you can’t it is better to use Ethanol rather than hand sanitizers.

Always remember that in today’s, “new normal” we all can’t afford to be lazy and neglectful of our health, sanitary conditions, and surroundings most especially since the COVID-19 is still very much lurking around us and there are still no vaccines nor medicines to help us permanently protect ourselves from it. By being neglectful when it comes to sanitizing, you’re awfully setting you and your loved ones at home up to possibly being infected with the virus, and that’s not what we want right? And so, like what the CDC and the WHO tells us everyday, please don’t forget to WASH YOUR HANDS. Thank you! Ref er ences:

Q & As Hand sanitizer and COVID-19. (2020, July 29). U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https:/ / www.fda.gov/ drugs/ information-drug-class/ qa-consumers-hand-sanitizers-and-covid-19

How Effective Are Hand Sanitizers? (2020). Rush University Medical Center. https:/ / www.rush.edu/ health-wellness/ discover-health/ does-hand-sanitizer-work

Keck Medicine of USC. (2020, March 26). How Effective Are Hand Sanitizers?KeckMedicine.https://www.keckmedicine.org/how-effective-arehand-sanitizers/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, March 3). Using Hand Sanitizer – Read the Science Behind the Recommendations. CDC.GOV. https:/ / www.cdc.gov/ handwashing/ show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

Leaf, B. (2017, July 9). How effective are hand sanitizers? BLOGADILLO. https:/ / news.nnlm.gov/ scr/ how-effective-are-hand-sanitizers/

Which Is Best: Hand Sanitizer or Soap and Water?(2020, April 27). Eat Right. https:/ / www.eatright.org/ Error-500?aspxerrorpath= / homefoodsafety/ four-steps/ wash/ which-is-best-hand-sanitizer-or-soap-and-water

Mertes, A. (2020, July 23). How Effective are Hand Sanitizers?Https:// Www.Qualitylogoproducts.Com/ . https:/ / www.qualitylogoproducts.com/ promouniversity/ effectiveness-hand-sanitizer.htm

World Health Organization: WHO. (2020, January 10). Coronavirus. World Health Organization International. https://www.who.int/health-topics/ coronavirus# tab= tab_1