Not all Hand Sanitizer is the Same
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, most people carried a small bottle of hand sanitizer. However, once the pandemic hit, it was nearly impossible to find any hand sanitizer anywhere. Now that things have started to settle down and most people have gotten back to their pre-pandemic routines, hand sanitizer can once again be found in almost every store imaginable. So how effective is hand sanitizer, and are all types of sanitizer the same? To start with the second part of the question, not all hand sanitizer is the same.
Alcohol-based vs. Alcohol-Free
If you read about hand sanitizer use on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's website (www.cdc.gov), you may be surprised to read that Alcohol-Free hand sanitizer does not kill the germs on your hands. However, when alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing isopropyl alcohol was not available at the start of the pandemic, the FDA stated that Alcohol-Free sanitizer with benzalkonium chloride was a suitable substitute. In November 2020, the Journal of Hospital Infection published a study that showed benzalkonium chloride inactivated the SARS-CoV-2 virus within 15 seconds of contact.
Since that study, there has been a growing consensus that alcohol-free hand sanitizer is just as effective as alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Further studies have shown that benzalkonium chloride might be more effective as it protects your hands from germs for four hours after use, while isopropyl alcohol only protects your hands for about 10 minutes. Furthermore, alcohol-based sanitizers became less effective with repeated use since alcohol removed the hand's natural oils and trapped dead skin cells making your hands dirtier instead of cleaner.
The CDC continues to instruct people to use alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and many websites, taking their lead from the CDC, repeat the claim that benzalkonium chloride is not adequate.
When it comes to alcohol-based sanitizers, more alcohol is not better
Alcohol-based sanitizers need to have between 60% and 95% alcohol to be effective. When you see a range such as this, you may think that more is better. While 70% may be better than 60%, 70% is better than 90%. Alcohol, by its very nature, evaporates very quickly. The alcohol needs to have a transfer medium to be absorbed into the skin and kill the bacteria and viruses on your hands. When you have 90% alcohol, there isn't enough water in the solution to carry the active ingredient into the skin. When there is less water, the alcohol can evaporate before it can do its job.
Hand Sanitizer does not work on surfaces
After squeezing out some sanitizer on our hands, many people may use it to wipe down their desks, keyboards, phones, or anything else. Unfortunately, hand sanitizers are not designed to work on surfaces and have extremely limited effectiveness on surfaces. Hand sanitizers are medical disinfectant products designed for use on skin. To clean your surfaces, use cleaning agents designed for that purpose.
People who use hand sanitizer regularly are 67% less likely to get sick
When used properly, meaning rubbing your hands with the sanitizer until your hands are dry, and when used about 5 times throughout the day, people who worked in an office setting were 67% less likely to get sick. Proper use is key. Another study showed that the use of hand sanitizer in schools led to increased school attendance by about 26%.
While hand sanitizer is good, it is no substitute for soap and water.
Washing with soap and water is the most effective preventative you can do. Despite the claim of killing 99.9% of germs, handwashing is actually more effective at protecting you than hand sanitizer. However, hand sanitizer is portable, and sinks with running water are not.
The World Health Organization has found that the simple act of washing your hands could prevent more than a million deaths per year.
While hand sanitizer is a good substitute for handwashing for the average person, hand sanitizers do not work in all cases. When a person's hands are greasy or covered in metals or chemicals, then hand sanitizer has limited effectiveness. In those cases, washing with soap and water is vastly superior to hand sanitizer.
Hand sanitizer is a great way to keep yourself from getting sick; however, depending solely on hand sanitizer is not advisable. It is vital to wash your hands with liquid soap and water when possible.