Everywhere you turn, everyone advises the population to frequently wash their hands or, when soap and water aren’t available, to use alcohol sanitizer solutions. Each of the two weapons is consistent with killing bacteria and viruses such as the new coronavirus. But washing our hands or using the sanitizer are ineffective if they are not used properly.
Proper handwashing protects you from coronavirus
Washing hands means rubbing your hands for twenty seconds if you are doing it in hot water and thirty if you are using cold water. You need to make a lot of bubbles to get to the fat of the virus, and cold water doesn’t help with the foam.
Annoying? Think about how annoying it could be to lie on a hospital bed, and washing hands will become exciting. Think of it as you were a samurai killing fatty ninjas. Soap gets to the fat within the virus. There is a part of the soap that doesn’t like water too much but instead loves floundering into fat.
And COVID-19 has a crown made of lipids, aka fat. When that fat lover part of the soap molecule encounters the fat from the crown, it practically breaks the crown and takes the reign. All you have to do then is to rinse it down the drain.
Alcohol sanitizer against COVID-19
Alcohol sanitizer is just as exigent as handwashing if you want it to become a virus killer. First, you have to make sure it has a concentration of at least 60% alcohol.
Then, it needs to get to every crevasse of your grand-canyon-like of a hand. Back and front, between fingers, under nails. Don’t think it can replace hand washing.
So, don’t put your hands on your face, because there are a lot of other germs there left behind, not just dirt. So, think of alcohol sanitizer as an emergency solution that will help you resist against coronavirus until you find soap and water.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.