• Question: When dealing with coronavirus, would it be wise to create my own rubbing alcohol from sugar water and yeast? This is because there are no products in the shop and if this works is it a good idea?

    Asked by anon-236150 to Lucy, Greg, Emma, David, Anthony, Anna on 16 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Lucy Kelly

      Lucy Kelly answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      No, I would strongly advise against this. Soap, water and washing your hands for 20 seconds is the best way to get rid of coronavirus.

    • Photo: Greg Heikel

      Greg Heikel answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      I think brewing your own alcohol is probably a bad idea, you need an alcohol content of at least 60-70% to kill the virus which would be very hard to acheive and even then it probably wouldn’t be safe. Plus pure alcohol without the other things that they put in hand gel would just dry out your hands which would end up causing even more problems!

    • Photo: Emma Hayhurst

      Emma Hayhurst answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      Agree with the others – sadly not. Try and get hold of some soap – or even washing up liquid will do.

    • Photo: David Mark

      David Mark answered on 17 Mar 2020:

      This is a creative solution however most yeast dies after 10% alcohol content so your fermentation product wouldn’t be strong enough, you’d just end up washing your hands with yeasty water sadly. If you’re struggling to find liquid soap then most shower gels, bars of soap, and dilute washing up liquid will also inactivate the virus.

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