Why Calgarians may not want to try those hand sanitizer recipes, and other tips

Albertans are bracing for the coronavirus, especially now that the province has its first two presumptive cases of COVID-19, in Calgary and Edmonton.

Consumers may have noticed that it's getting harder and harder to find hand sanitizer on the store shelves, not to mention sanitizing wipes and, inexplicably, toilet paper.

"I think this is a bit of a panic response," Dr. Craig Jenne, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Calgary, told the The Homestretch.

"People hear about doom in the news and they're doing whatever they can to try and stave it off here at home."

Meanwhile, recipes for hand sanitizer have been popping up on the Internet. 

"There are recipes. For example, the World Health Organization even has a recipe up. But there are some caveats," Jenne said. 

False sense of security

"And that is if it's not made properly, it can cause a fair bit of harm. But also if they're not made properly, they're not going to sterilize, and you get a false sense of security."

Jenne says for a homemade hand sanitizer to be effective, it has to have a lot of alcohol.

"So, well above 60 per cent (alcohol) if you want to kill things," he said.

"Keep in mind, though, that the things that kill viruses, they kill biological cells, they kill living things. They're going to harm your own cells, your own skin, and commercial sanitizers have a lot of stable molecules in there to help protect your own skin. Those are hard to do at home."

So if you can't buy it, and you can't make it properly, Jenne advises the one thing our mothers have always told us: stop touching your face.

"Even if your hands are dirty, the virus is not going to get in through your skin," he said. "It's when you touch your eyes, nose, mouth, that kind of thing. Believe it or not, it's hard to do. If you ever watch yourself for an hour, you're going to be touching your face several times."

And, of course, we are advised to wash our hands frequently.

"Hopefully, there's very few of these situations, there's always a bar of soap somewhere."

People touch their faces on average 15 to 18 times per hour, according to recent studies.

"It is a very conscious effort, and it is very difficult to do, so people literally have to be aware," Jenne said. "It's much like when somebody asked you to breathe normally, now you can't do it. So you do have to be very conscious and very aware of it."

In normal times, it's "probably not that big of a deal," Jenne said.

But at a time like this, it's really worth trying.

"When you're in an area with a high risk of infection, or you've touched something, or somebody is coughing around you, that's when you absolutely have to be aware of this," he said. 

We've all heard about the horrors of airline surfaces — the tray tables, the armrests and the seatback pockets. But Jenne warns us not to be fooled by a quick swipe with a sanitizing wipe.

"So, they can work. Not all wipes will kill, for example, coronavirus. You have to read the container. If it has been tested in a lab, it will say on the container, 'able to kill human coronavirus,'" he said. 

"The one thing to keep in mind is, many of these disinfectants actually require five to 10 minutes to sterilize the surface, so a quick wipe might kill some of the bugs, but it is not going to sterilize that surface."

Apply for 20 seconds

The same advice goes for using hand sanitizer. How long should we be rubbing our hands?

"Again, it depends on the formulations, on reading the bottle, but typically more than the five seconds we tend to give it," he said.

"You know, the general rule with washing your hands with soap and water is at least 20 seconds. So there's a whole list of songs you can hum to yourself to make sure you stay in under the tap long enough to really wash."

So aside from washing your hands, and not touching your face, what else can you do to lower your risk of coming into contact with the coronavirus?

Big ones include not travelling to hot spots around the globe, such as France, South Korea and northern Italy.

Right now, travel in Canada is still deemed safe, but it might not be the time to plan a trip to northern Italy. 

"The situation is changing. Travel restrictions may come up in the next couple days to other countries, and we just have to be aware of those. Right now, daily life in Canada is not affected.… You know, sooner or later we may have a hot spot here within our own country that we'll have to deal with."

One way to avoid the danger is to stay away from large crowds.

"So often conventions or conferences may have a lot of people from those areas," Jenne said. "And then there's the smaller things. So getting a good night's sleep — if your body is tired, your immune system is down. Stay hydrated. If your airways, mucous membranes dry out, it is much easier for a virus to infect you."

And if you're worried about keeping your home sanitized, Jenne says that's when you can break out the serious cleaning products.

Save the bleach for countertops

"So bleach-based compounds, we wouldn't want to rub them on our hands, but they're great for cleaning counters," he said. "And just being aware that if there is a high risk, if somebody has been in your house and there's a good likelihood they had coronavirus, maybe you have to ask those senior guests not to come over."

And one final tip — Jenne says it's not too late to get the flu shot, reminding us that the flu will kill more people in Canada than coronavirus.

"It's something we tend to put on the back burner when there is coronavirus in the news, so it's not too late," he said. "There's still four flu circulating. Typically, this time of year, we start to see the influenza Bs. That's also in the vaccine, so there's still great value in getting that shot."

Jenne also suggests that if you feel the signs of the illness — the biggest indicator is difficulty in breathing — it's not wise to walk into a crowded ER. Stay home and use your phone to call your health care professional or call Health Link.

With files from The Homestretch.