Three months ago, I never would have imagined that the 1-ounce hand sanitizer at the bottom of my backpack would be considered a scarcity. However, after the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the United States, many Americans went into survival mode, panic-buying products that would prevent contagion.
“People have been stockpiling,” says Dr. Pat Lord, a virologist and teaching professor of Biology at Wake Forest University.
By the end of March, hand sanitizer sales had skyrocketed 239% from a year earlier. Many price gougers upcharged products online, including a man who purchased 17,700 bottles in hopes of reselling and returning a profit. Prices for isopropyl alcohol, the active ingredient in most hand sanitizers, have more than tripled since early March. The product’s availability in stores seems nonexistent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that hand washing may be more effective in ensuring that dirt and germs are removed compared to sanitizers. However, people are still searching for more. Due to stockpiling and increasing demands, there is a critically low supply of hand sanitizers available for lines of work without access to soap and water on a regular basis.
“Most viruses are ‘killed’ by either soap or hand sanitizer, and SARS-CoV2 would be no exception,” says Dr. Sarah Mcdonald, a virologist and associate professor of Biology at Wake Forest University. “They prevent spread because they destroy virus particles that are on your hands…which could end up in your mouth or nose…or could end up on surfaces and picked up by others.”
In order to stop the virus from attaching to human cells, soap can dissolve the protective oily coating around the virus. Without its outer layer, the virus, SARS-CoV2, is no longer able to attach and spread. Although hand sanitizer, with its active ingredient being alcohol, can be effective, it can only do so at higher concentrations.
“With handwashing, you’re rinsing [the virus] down the drain versus trying to make sure that you’ve got enough [hand sanitizer] on your hands to inactivate the virus,” says Dr. Lord. “That’s why they say it has to have a really high alcohol content to be effective.”
However, for many industries, such as those working on-site, access to hand sanitizer is crucial to complete their jobs safely.
“A lot of our customers aren’t getting hand sanitizers,” says Jeff Neeley, owner of B&L Neeley Inc., a cleaning supplies manufacturer for the food industry. “They couldn’t get it at the stores or from their janitorial supplies–It just didn’t exist.”
In order to combat these rising demands, a temporary policy was released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 23rd that allows businesses to produce alcohol-based sanitizers under a carefully laid out procedure. Because of this, companies that once were producing perfumes, spirits, and cleaning supplies are now able to produce.
Among these businesses includes B&L Neeley Inc. based in the Bay Area. Because the same active ingredients, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, can be used in both surface sanitizers and those for hands, Neeley was able to convert his production towards helping with the shortage.
“It’s kind of like Ford Motor Company transitioning their production facility over to tanks during World War Two,” says Neeley. “This is what we have to do just to be able to survive.”
In a study published this Tuesday by Emerging Infectious Diseases, it was confirmed that the alcohol-based hand sanitizers recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are effective at killing the virus. Two of these approved formulas, one with an isopropyl alcohol base, and one with an ethanol base, have been used by Neeley’s company.
However, it is not just businesses in the chemical industry producing hand sanitizers. Many recipes for homemade sanitizers have surfaced on the internet.
“I like to do little projects here and there, and I thought it would be fun, but also useful,” Says Dan Donnelly, a local resident of the Bay Area.
With a small supply of ethanol, aloe vera, and essential oils, Donnelly was able to produce ten bottles of his own concoction, distributing them out to those with compromised immune systems. However, experts at the FDA fear that these homemade sanitizers may not have the 60% or higher alcohol content recommended by public health officials to be effective.
“As you read the FDA letter, it supports the purpose of us producing… so that we can prevent all of the homebrews that are going to start popping up,” says Neeley.
Although more businesses are producing, shortages of isopropyl alcohol and plastic bottles used for hand sanitizers have started. However, companies will continue to produce for as long as possible for communities in need.
“It’s just us pitching in, like all of the nurses that are willing to get on a plane and fly to New York to help out,” says Neeley. “It’s just us doing our part.”
Word Count Count: 810
Reporting Index:
Jeff Neeley, Owner of B&L Neeley Inc.
Dan Donnelly, Local Bay Area Resident
Sarah McDonald Phd., Virologist and Associate Professor of Biology at Wake Forest University
Pat Lord PhD., Virologist and Teaching Professor of Biology at Wake Forest University
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/distilleries-hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-hundreds
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/business/hand-sanitizer-sales/index.html
https://www.fda.gov/media/136289/download
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/qa-consumers-hand-sanitizers-and-covid-19
https://www.healthline.com/health/does-hand-sanitizer-expire#takeaway
Science Journalism- Abby Vogeley 