Originally Posted By: nursetim
The product is 62% alcohol. 70% is the minimum concentration for sanitization. This is what is taught in the dozens of hospital based infection control classes I have attended over the years.

I have no healthcare background, but the the CDC COVID-19 hand sanitizer page says that while 70% is the minimum when the alcohol is isopropanol, when the alcohol is ethanol (as in this sanitizer) 60% is sufficient, so the 62% ethanol in that sanitizer should be okay.

Specifically: "CDC recommends using ABHR with greater than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol in healthcare settings".

The USP comments: "laboratory data demonstrate that 60% ethanol and 70% isopropanol, the active ingredients in CDC-recommended alcohol-based hand sanitizers, inactivates viruses that are genetically related to, and with similar physical properties as, the 2019-nCoV."

However, the CDC page states: "laboratory data demonstrate that ABHR formulations containing 80% ethanol or 75% isopropanol, both of which are in the range of alcohol concentrations recommended by CDC, inactivate SARS-CoV-2." (Those are the concentrations in the standard WHO formulation that the FDC provided emergency authorization for).

So, 80% ethanol has a rather stronger endorsement.
[Update: while that was my initial conclusion, for SARS-CoV-2, the paper (below) doesn't suggest a difference between 60% and 80% ethanol for efficiacy vs. SARS-CoV-2]

[Update: I think I found the paper (a preprint) the CDC is referencing, and it concluded 30% of either alcohol, for 30 seconds, was sufficient in inactivate COVID-19 (30 seconds?! what happened to "20 seconds"!!) The peer reviewers may find flaws in it, of course.]
[Day later update: reading that paper more carefully, it suggests other subtleties, like the glycerol percentage in the standard WHO formulation making it less effective than a reduced glycerol formulation, etc.]


I've seen several companies selling the WHO formulation by the gallon online, like: Rescue Essentials Froggy's Fog, Santolubes, Just Hand Sanitizer I have no personal experience with this sanitizer formulation, and no experience or connection with any of these companies (other than buying signal mirrors from Rescue Essentials (who do provide a safety data sheet and other links)). Note that the WHO formulation is a liquid, not a gel.


Edited by rafowell (05/01/20 08:10 PM)
Edit Reason: update after reading.
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A signal mirror should backup a radio distress signal, like a 406 MHz PLB (ACR PLB) (Ocean Signal PLB)