5 ms·

Ignoring the silliness of this fee, wasn't regular soap more effective and always widely available? Was there any real reason to make emergency sanitizer?

compiler-guy 6y ago
Both regular hand washing and hand sanitizer are effective. Each can be used in different places, which makes them both useful. For example, I sanitize my hands in the car after going to the grocery store. Hard to make soap and water work for that case.
- erik_seaberg 6y ago
  The way I heard it, sanitizer seems to work (and is usable anywhere), but soap followed by running water has an advantage in not only breaking up the fatty layer protecting a coronavirus, but also sweeping it off your skin.
  - petertodd 6y ago
    SARS-CoV-2 needs that outer shell to be able to infect you. Lab tests have found that even when hand sanitizer is diluted well below recommended levels of concentration, it's still very effective at inactivating SARS-CoV-2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431409/ It's a relatively fragile virus. Fact is, there's very little evidence of COVID-19 spreading via surfaces, so hand hygiene and surface cleaning probably makes little if any difference: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30678-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3... With some diseases surfaces certainly can be a common source of infection. But COVID-19 doesn't appear to be one of them.
csours 6y ago
Sanitizer is much more convenient if you don't have access to a sink. Also, stores did run out of soap due to panic buying.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  I'm glad whenever we stock up in prep for a hurricane we aren't accused of panic buying. Maybe that's still to come.
  - socksy 6y ago
    I prefer the German "Hamsterkauf" (lit. "hamster buying") which feels a lot less judgy
ImprovedSilence 6y ago
There are situations where a sink and soap are not always readily available. Like... in my car after a trip to the store. Out in public, and you just touched a few too many shared use things like handrails. Pull out the bottle. Demand for this flexibility and hand cleansing has skyrocketed.
gayprogrammer 6y ago
Sanitizer is always first choice in hospital settings. It’s MUCH faster, and MUCH easier on the skin over repeated use than soap and water.
- Alupis 6y ago
  Hand Sanitizer, with alcohol, is far more damaging to your skin than soap.
ineedasername 6y ago
Regular soap was hard to find near me, though I was near a hotspot.
- lostapathy 6y ago
  I wasn't in a hotspot and hand soap has been hard to get all year.
  - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
    Supplies sometimes were lower than usual but there has consistently been enough on hand to meet our needs - in my case unscented.

compiler-guy 6y ago

Both regular hand washing and hand sanitizer are effective. Each can be used in different places, which makes them both useful. For example, I sanitize my hands in the car after going to the grocery store. Hard to make soap and water work for that case.

erik_seaberg 6y ago
The way I heard it, sanitizer seems to work (and is usable anywhere), but soap followed by running water has an advantage in not only breaking up the fatty layer protecting a coronavirus, but also sweeping it off your skin.
- petertodd 6y ago
  SARS-CoV-2 needs that outer shell to be able to infect you. Lab tests have found that even when hand sanitizer is diluted well below recommended levels of concentration, it's still very effective at inactivating SARS-CoV-2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431409/ It's a relatively fragile virus. Fact is, there's very little evidence of COVID-19 spreading via surfaces, so hand hygiene and surface cleaning probably makes little if any difference: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30678-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3... With some diseases surfaces certainly can be a common source of infection. But COVID-19 doesn't appear to be one of them.

csours 6y ago

Sanitizer is much more convenient if you don't have access to a sink. Also, stores did run out of soap due to panic buying.

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
I'm glad whenever we stock up in prep for a hurricane we aren't accused of panic buying. Maybe that's still to come.
- socksy 6y ago
  I prefer the German "Hamsterkauf" (lit. "hamster buying") which feels a lot less judgy

ImprovedSilence 6y ago

There are situations where a sink and soap are not always readily available. Like... in my car after a trip to the store. Out in public, and you just touched a few too many shared use things like handrails. Pull out the bottle. Demand for this flexibility and hand cleansing has skyrocketed.

gayprogrammer 6y ago

Sanitizer is always first choice in hospital settings. It’s MUCH faster, and MUCH easier on the skin over repeated use than soap and water.

Alupis 6y ago
Hand Sanitizer, with alcohol, is far more damaging to your skin than soap.

ineedasername 6y ago

Regular soap was hard to find near me, though I was near a hotspot.

lostapathy 6y ago
I wasn't in a hotspot and hand soap has been hard to get all year.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  Supplies sometimes were lower than usual but there has consistently been enough on hand to meet our needs - in my case unscented.