🗨 Status Report: What's Up With You?

You can make your own with this WHO approved recipe :slight_smile: It’s really just ethanol 80% (v/v), diluted with water.

You get ethanol 96% or 100% in any hardware store or as a fuel online. I need it for my kitchen stove and usually buy 30 l at 1.46 EUR/l here. The hydrogen peroxide in the WHO formulation is just against bacterial spores, but since you want it against the COVID-19 virus you’d not need that. Adding the glycerol is against the drying effect of ethanol, which is more comfortable, but in an emergency you’d also not need that. No gelling agents are needed, just rub your hands with a bit of the stuff until dry.

Edit: Just seeing that my favourite online shop also has the isopropyl alcohol as used in the WHO Formulation 2 from the above link. Using that has the advantage that (as far as I can see) isopropyl alcohol is not denaturated, while ethanol is. Denaturation of ethanol means adding a bitter substance that makes it undrinkable, preventing its use in moonshine production. That bitter substance is not dangerous in a hand sanitizer, but may transfer a bitter taste when touching food (I doubt it would be noticeable, but the WHO document speaks about that).

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