Hand sanitizer?

Stores are being cleaned out of hand sanitizers in our area. The surgeon general has asked that people stop buying masks.

I have a bunch of those little packaged handwipes purchased over the last few years...I'll be taking those (I usually take a dozen or so, now - depending on what May brings, I'll pack more if necessary), and my usual slightly bigger package of sanitizing wet wipes for wiping down the tray table on the plane. Not a fan of the hand gel. :)

masks have not been available in stores here for at least a month. and yeah if traveling I'd be bringing my own. Now that the Louvre has been closed and large gatherings (e.g. concerts etc suspended, I'd rethink travel to Paris -- we are, alas)

was out doing our normal shopping and noted that hand sanitizer is cleaned out in all the grocery and drug stores in our area. I found a little overlooked nest of it at the CVS near the pharmacy as the main shelves were cleaned out and bought some for my daughter who has young kids and little kids have their hands on their face and mouths so hand sanitation is even more critical.

Bets,
See www.cdc.gov for prevention. Hand Sanitizer should have at least 60% Alcohol for protection. Be sure to use enough to cover hands & allow to dry naturally. When using soap and water wash thoroughly for at least 20 seconds. Other preventative measures are also discussed. As far as hand wipes 60-95% alcohol is an effective alternative for hand hygiene when soap & water are not available.
Edited to add see cdc for facemask recommendations as well.

Thanks Janis.
It's the guards at the Louvre who walked out. They are having a meeting with administrators tomorrow/Monday morning about work conditions due to concern about their exposure to an international public. So, Monday we'll know if it's closed or reopened and under what conditions.
I have reservations this week to see the Pierre Soulages exhibit at the Louvre.

We are prepared to cancel any time or turn around and come home. Definitely dicier day by day.

What I see on the Associated Press website indicates the Louvre is closed due to staff concerns about the large numbers of visitors from all over the world. Perhaps this doesn't indicate an official, long-term closure. The museum itself has only tweeted that the opening of the museum has been delayed today (Sunday).

You can easily make your own hand sanitizer. Here is one recipe I found using Google search https://www.thoughtco.com/make-your-own-homemade-hand-sanitizer-606145
I haven’t tried it because I’m not hand sanitizer fan, instead use WetWipes because they wipe dirt off too. But I have both alcohol and aloe hiding under the bathroom sink so may give the sanitizer a try.

I always travel with hand sanitizer gel plus the individual wipes wipes - I have done this for decades - I mean you do t actually eat off the tray table in a plane or touch the touch screen without wiping it down , gross! I just spend too much money on trips to get someone’s head cold never mind any weird or serious stuff lol

Rick posted an interesting bit about travel and staying healthy in his blog.

https://blog.ricksteves.com/

The Cold War era nuclear mask I bought from Budapest is looking like it will finally see some use. Coupled with a complete dousing of methylated spirits I should be able to travel without any concern.

someone sneezes in the waiting area at the airport and everyone within a 10 foot radius will have the bug.

I’ve always brought along hand sanitizer or wet sanitizer wipes whether traveling or out on the town. In my neighborhood in Southern California the stores are sold out. So much for that advice if you need some right now. Masks and gloves also out. People are also buying out paper goods and water at the big box stores, which I don’t really get. The later seems like panic. We don’t even have any suspected community transmission cases of Covid 19 in my area. As everyone says, keep calm and carry on.

I ordered 1 oz and 0.5 oz bottles of hand sanitizer from minimus.biz

If you are not familiar with them, they carry hundreds of items that are carry on size. I've been a customer for years. I even have an order arriving tomorrow.

I don't get the water thing. Are we expecting water and power to go out? Seems odd. It is probably prudent to have food for brief interruptions.

I always have hand sanitizer in my purse and backpack. It's the backpack bottle that gets used the most, because it's what I carry where I may need to wash my hands and not have access to a bathroom. When I fly, a bottle goes in that quart bag for liquids. So I'm not doing anything new by carrying and using it.

In addition, my husband always carries bleach wipes for airline seating and grocery carts. I will borrow the bleach wipes this season.

jen we have always done that too -- wipes for the airlines and hand sanitizer out and about. We will just be more rigorous about it now if we end up traveling. 40 years ago our 9 month old baby picked up noro virus on the plane and while she was only sick for one night she gave it to us, my parents and then later my brother's entire family and we were all sick as dogs. Since then we have always tried to sanitize the seat area when we travel.

We will probably decide to travel or not based on how widespread it is in Paris by April -- but the uncertainty factor plays in too --

Here’s a fascinating article about how the Chinese have tackled this disease. Meanwhile, the French are active, too. For example, people returning from areas where infection is present are being given 20 days of sick leave to self-isolate themselves at home away from others. Contrast that with the plight of the US hourly workers.

Here’s the article on China:
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/2/21161067/coronavirus-covid19-china

I am due to leave in less than three weeks! Since my trip is almost 3 months long, I don’t feel as confident about going. I do wish there would be a no travel warning soon!

BA is supposedly cancelling flights to France, from the UK. The numbers have gone up drastically in France! Plus they also have the flu epidemic.

"...and bought some for my daughter who has young kids and little kids have their hands on their face and mouths so hand sanitation is even more critical...."

Unless there was a suspected large outbreak of Coronavirus in your immediate area I wouldn't want to be sanitising children's hands, it's how we develop immunity to the everyday bacteria around us. There's a strongly held belief that the prevalence of allergies in more recent years is a result of antibacterial cleaning products. My children wash their hands after they've been to toilet and before they eat and that's it (unless they've been doing something incredibly messy!)

I always pick up some hand sanitizer at Monoprix. Love the smell of their own brand. I always feel cool having Monoprix stuff with me in the USA. Lame? Yes. Do I care? Non, je m'en fous.

Alcohol gel is not an antibacterial (like in the antibacterial soaps). It functions more like bleach. Antibacterials actually promote bacterial evolution and stronger bacteria; bleach and alcohol function entirely differently. And if you don't want your kids coming down with norovirus, flu, colds or covid then clean hands, preferably with soap and water, but when out and about with alcohol gel is common sense although some virus are not as sensitive to it as to bleach e.g. norovirus. The lecture on how wonderful germs are is out of place at the moment.

Masks are only good IF you are already sick and the masks helps you not infect anyone else ... but they are NOT effective to keep you from getting sick . Please don't buy masks if you aren't sick.

What JC says has a lot of merit, and yeah, it's hard to think like that while we discuss Coronavirus, however I firmly believe that we as a society can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Bet's I hope you don't object to me bringing up the use of bleach wipes for surfaces since it's been discussed on your thread. As some people have mentioned, they use them to wipe surfaces on planes, etc. The bleach wipes are 99% effective against many germs. I have used them in my medical practice per protocol. I would advise following the manufacturers recommendations and CDC. I don nitrile gloves to apply the wipes (advised per CDC) The wipes can cause irritation to bare skin, etc. Surfaces need to dry after application. If using gloves it's important to remove them correctly to avoid recontamination. Google "How to remove (doffing) protective gloves properly." Always recommended to thoroughly wash hands following removal of gloves as well.

Washing kids hands is fine, if they're dirty, after they've been to the toilet and before eating. Sanitising them because there's an outbreak of a new virus is over the top as is sanitising them as part of a normal daily routine. Would you sanitise the kids hands in case they catch the flu? That's a bigger risk.

There is no outbreak of Cronavirus anywhere near me therefore there is no immediate forseeable risk or shall we all start donning hazmat suits just in case?

The hysteria surrounding this virus is ridiculous, fuelled in no part by the idiotic sensationalist media.

I have wiped down my entire seating area on a plane for years; but, seriously, what I really want to do, and have wanted to do for years, is wipe down the people sitting next to me.
I'm sure most of you feel the same way.
I wash all my travel clothes on arrival as I feel so grubby after a long flight.

Of course you sanitize kids hands (kids who are always sticking their hands in their face) during cold and flu season -- it is not 'over the top' -- it is common sense.

When I was a kid, my mother didn't sanitize my hand. There wasn't such a thing. We were told to go wash our hands which we did on the fly. We rode bikes without helmets and protective gear. We drank from the garden hose.

And somehow we survived.

In fact, some "experts" are now saying the overuse of hand sanitizers may actually be lowering our own ability to fight illness.

Isn't it like Janet said, hand gels and wet wipes use alcohol which is different from the antibacterial ingredients found in anti-bac soaps? I hate to see the questioning of hand cleaners when out in public when no soap and water is available. Geesh.

Honestly, even without a novel virus, I can't believe the unhygienic things some people do in public. Yes, they may be building up immunity against some common germs, but what we are discussing today is Covid 19, something novel. I believe the CDC is recommending these for hand washing. Use common sense and do the best you can not to spread harmful germs is all that's being suggested.

Of course you sanitize kids hands (kids who are always sticking their hands in their face) during cold and flu season -- it is not 'over the top' -- it is common sense.

So are you now telling us that you or your daughter regularly sanitises the children's hands during every cold and flu season? Or is this something that is only occuring because you noticed a sudden high demand of sanitiser?

There is nothing wrong with using hand sanitizers when dealing with outbreak situations etc. I carry a tiny bottle in my purse and car. And, you never know what is on that gas station handle or what’s on the pen you use at your local pharmacy. Hand sanitizers are never a substitute for good hand washing, but please use it until you make it to a sink to wash your hands.
https://zdoggmd.com/doc-vader-hand-hygiene/

I watched everyone in class touching their faces, coughing without covering their mouth. Also, I observed so many females bolting out of the bathrooms here without washing their filthy hands. People are just gross !!!

JC. only someone who wants to spend weeks at home from work with sick kids DOESN'T practice good hand sanitation with kids especially during cold and flu season. Duh.

"JC. only someone who wants to spend weeks at home from work with sick kids DOESN'T practice good hand sanitation with kids especially during cold and flu season. Duh."

Thanks for the patronisation Janet. I've never used sanitising products on any of my children and they've never been off sick with colds or flu. Neither did my parents, neither do my siblings and neither, to my knowledge, do any of my friends. Perhaps if you've experienced weeks at home with sick kids perhaps their immune system wasn't as robust as others.

Regularly sanitising children's hands removes the ability to expose them to small amounts of bacteria that assist in building a healthy immune system. It's the reason for the explosion in child allergies, we are obsessed with sanitising everything around us.

Compromising a child's immune system and exposing them to a lifetime of potentially lethal allergies is highly irresponsible. Teaching your child to wash their hands at appropriate times of the day is the responsible way.

You clearly don't agree with me so you carry on sanitising your grandchildren's hands and I'll stick to regular soap and water.

Working in preventative medicine for decades I would also suggest up to date Handwashing Education from the CDC. They provide scientific information. Soap & water is the main defense, but when not available hand sanitizer 60% alcohol is an alternative. The CDC has a wealth of reliable information.
www.cdc.gov

yes soap and water does a better job of removing germs than alcohol gel -- neither is the antibiotic like 'sanitizer' used in anti bacterial soaps etc and there is precisely nothing different in sanitizing with alcohol as we travel and washing with soap and water.

I think this thread has run its course. Thanks, everyone.