Is hand sanitizer effective against COVID-19?
Most alcohol-based hand sanitizers are effective at inactivating enveloped viruses, including coronaviruses.
What is the risk of using a hand sanitizer that contains methanol to protect against COVID-19?
Methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death.
What public health measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 are recommended by the CDC?
See full answer● Wash your hands often with plain soap and water. The CDC recommends washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Learn more about safely using hand sanitizer.● Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face covering or non-surgical mask when around others.● Avoid crowds and practice social distancing (stay at least 6 feet apart from others).
What are the dangers of using methanol for sanitation?
See full answerMethanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. Although people using these products on their hands are at risk for methanol poisoning, young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute are most at risk. Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol and are experiencing symptoms should seek immediate medical treatment for potential reversal of the toxic effects of methanol poisoning.
What should I do with hand sanitizer that contains methanol (wood alcohol)?
If you have one of the products the FDA’s do-not-use list of hand sanitizers, you should immediately stop using it and dispose of the product, ideally in a hazardous waste container. Do not pour these products down the drain or flush them.