After almost several months of enduring the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the world is slowly coming around to the importance of using hand sanitizer in their everyday lives. When running or heading to work, a high-quality hand sanitizer spray can substantially impact your overall health.
Keep reading to know why hand sanitizer is necessary, and you should possess a bottle.
Why is Hand Sanitizer Important?
You do not have to experience a pandemic outbreak to understand that the Covid germs are everywhere. We all know that Covid-19 is transmitted through respiratory droplets. Those minute organisms can easily land on a massive variety of surfaces.
More importantly, those surfaces can sustain the novel coronavirus for several hours. So you have plenty of time to touch door handles, gas pumps, light switches, debit card machines, phones, ATMs, and toilets – all that an infected person has used. So when you physically come into contact with these surfaces and the Covid 19 germs – you substantially increase your risk of contracting it.
What Are the Benefits of Using Hand Sanitizer?
Most alcohol-based hand sanitizers will help to deter the spread of germs. Even the illness-causing bacteria may be harmful once they enter your body. These germs spread particularly in busy env like offices and schools.
Stop the Spread of Germs: According to several studies, 1 in every 5 people do not regularly wash their hands. Of those who do, 70 percent do it even using soap. Providing sanitizer in critical areas, including bathrooms and kitchens, is better. As it will make people use the sanitizer, which will kill harmful bacteria.
Promote Good Hygiene and Health: A healthy building is a productive one. One study in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) found that encouraging the use of hand sanitizers in schools reduced absenteeism by almost 20%!
Reduce Waste: As an extra precaution, many individuals use paper towels to open doors when they leave the bathrooms or kitchens. Therefore, placing hand sanitizers near exits often makes it easy for individuals to defend themselves from bacteria and germs without creating an additional mess.
Therefore, you should know the tips and tricks for effective handwashing? You should check out this infographic to increase your knowledge.
How To Use Hand Sanitizer Most Effectively?
Use hand sanitizer properly as it should ensure the job is done – meaning to get rid of germs before they start to spread:
Do Not Use Hand Sanitizer if Your Hands are Dirty: Hope you know that sanitizers are not meant to clean your hands. They are only meant to disinfect. Residue like dirt and oil on your hands will prevent hand sanitizers from penetrating down your skin. As a result, using the sanitizer with a dirty hand is just a waste of the disinfectant without any effect.
Use the Right Amount: Less does not mean more when using sanitizer. It means you must apply enough to coat every part of your hands, including the fingers, thoroughly. Do not forget about the back of them or especially your fingers.
Rub It In Until Your Hands Are Dry: With this process of rubbing, you can be sure that the liquid has come into contact with all the most critical surfaces of your hand.
The Popularity of Hand Sanitizer
In early 2020, with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, spread, hand sanitizer sales began to grow. In March of the same year, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially upgraded the outbreak of Covid to a global pandemic.
Health agencies worldwide recommend that people refrain from touching their faces and clean their hands, especially after touching public surfaces like door handles and handrails.
The first US case of COVID-19 was detected in Jan 2020. According to market research, hand sanitizer sales in the US alone grew 73 percent in the 4 weeks ending Feb 2020.
But is the popularity of hand sanitizers justified?
Most doctors and health officials say soap and water are the best options to keep your hands virus-free. Especially when you are near a sink. Hand sanitizers are the next best thing.
To get the maximum benefit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC recommends that individuals should use a product that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. You should cover all surfaces of your hands with the product and rub them together until dry.
Why Use Hand Sanitizer with 60% Alcohol?
Some sanitizers are indeed sold without alcohol. It is the primary ingredient in most products. That is because alcohol is a very effective disinfectant that is safe to apply to your skin. Note that alcohol’s job is to break up the outer coatings of viruses and bacteria, making it ineffective.
SARS-CoV-2 is known to be an enveloped virus. Some viruses protect themselves with a cage made of proteins. But as enveloped viruses leave those cells they have infected, the virus wraps itself in a coat made of its own proteins.
The lipids protect these microorganisms, and alcohols have a polar and a nonpolar region. Most alcohol disrupts these supramolecular interactions, effectively dissolving the lipid membranes. Therefore, one needs a fairly high concentration of alcohol to rapidly break apart the virus’ protective coating. Therefore, CDC recommends using sanitizers with at least 60 percent alcohol.
But rubbing high concentrations of alcohol may not be suitable for your skin, nor is it pleasant. The alcohol may quickly dry out your skin as it also disrupts the protective layer of oils on the skin. That is the reason most sanitizers contain a moisturizer to counteract this drying.
What Ingredients Do Hand Sanitizers Contain?
The WHO offers two simple formulas for making your hand-sanitizing liquids, especially in resource-limited or remote areas. In remote areas, workers cannot access sinks or other hand-cleaning facilities.
One formula uses 80 percent ethanol, and the other 75 percent isopropyl alcohol, otherwise known as rubbing alcohol. Both these recipes contain a small amount of hydrogen peroxide as it prevents microbes from growing in the sanitizer liquid. These sanitizers also include a bit of glycerol to help moisturize your skin and to avoid dermatitis.
Other moisturizing compounds in most liquid hand sanitizers may include poly(ethylene glycol) and propylene glycol. When you rub an alcohol-based hand sanitizer on your skin, its ethanol part evaporates. Finally leaving behind these soothing compounds.
You will find most sanitizers contain either isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol. But alcohol-free hand sanitizers are also for sale. They usually contain antimicrobial compounds like benzalkonium chloride as it provides lasting protection against bacteria.
But you need to understand that alcohol-free products are not recommended by the CDC, especially for fighting the novel coronavirus. It is not yet clear that it can be used successfully against SARS-CoV-2 or Covid.
Hand Sanitizer Gels – Why Are They Preferred?
You will find that in most clinics, runny, liquid hand sanitizers – quite similar to those you can make from the WHO recipes. They can be easily transferred to the hands of doctors, patients, and visitors from wall-mounted liquid dispensers.
For your regular use, hand sanitizer gels are a lot easier to carry and dispense on the go. Gaining gel from the bottle is easier without spilling it everywhere. Gels will also slow the evaporation of alcohol. Thus ensuring it has time to cover your hands and work against the microbes on your hands.
What Makes Hand Sanitizer Stand Out?
Fortunately, this hand sanitizer spray has become a lifesaver for the masses during the Covid times. All the producers have responded to the COVID-19 crisis by developing a hand sanitizer especially engineered to make your life easier.
Most of the hand sanitizer formula available today adheres to the World Health Organization’s strict guidelines. In addition, these sanitizers also pay attention to your skin.
In addition to our ethanol-isopropyl mix, most hand sanitizers contain a unique moisturizer that improves the health of your hands. At the same time, it protects you from COVID-19. Even better, these sanitizers are quick-drying, and it will not leave your hands feeling filmy.
How Should You Use Hand Sanitizer?
Do not be conservative when you apply an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. You should make sure you use enough liquid to cover every part of your hand, starting from the wrist down.
Remember that you should not use a hand sanitizer if you find your hands are noticeably dirty. Hand sanitizer is primarily for removing germs and bacteria, not visible oil and grease.
When Should You Use Hand Sanitizer?
If you are unclear about when to apply hand sanitizer, the CDC generally recommends that you should use it before and after entering a public place. Especially when you visit a supermarket or buy groceries. You should take extra care to apply hand sanitizer even when visiting people particularly susceptible to the virus.
You should also understand that hand sanitizer is not an effective replacement for soap and water. Regular use of soap and water is helpful not only during Covid but for your good health too. You should soap up whenever you get the opportunity.
Conclusion
When you combine it with other preventative measures during the pandemic, only then will it be effective. You should use it for proper handwashing and also thorough touch-point cleaning. In summary, using the sanitizer will help protect you and others against the flu and other illnesses.
It is important to note that soap and water are still the best options for hand hygiene. Soap molecules disrupt noncovalent interactions that bacterial and viruses cell walls have together. In addition, they can also surround and help detach microbes from your skin.
Note that hand sanitizers can not remove microbes from your skin and are ineffective against all germs. For example, noroviruses do not have a lipid membrane coating that can be broken up by alcohol. Moreover, alcohol also does not work as effectively when hands are dirty or greasy.
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