Originally Posted by pondering_it_all
I wonder if paint or home improvement stores have any alcohol? I don't think the denaturing agents are harmful to bare skin. Any combination of methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol is going to work. It's a pain in the ass, but you can distill your own moonshine if you have something that can be fermented, some yeast, and some sugar.

One thing I have found, is I don't bother with gloves much. I just touch packages or the mail and such, and then either hand sanitize or wash my hands with hot water and dish detergent. You are not going to get the virus by touching it, just from then touching your face or other things in you house or car before you sanitize them. And you can accidentally do that with gloves on. I worked in an OR for a while when I was young, so I have a very good knowledge of sterile procedure. I know when one or both hands are contaminated, and act accordingly.

It's funny, but my wife is a retired vet and pathologist who worked with stuff like possibly rabid dog carcasses. She is a lot more casual about this stuff. The other day she took some keys from another person we should have kept at a distance, who was not wearing a mask. Then she stuck her hand in her purse!

Yes, gloves can actually backfire because they aren't as easily sanitized as bare hands, and the person can then acquire a false sense of security. Also, gloves are known to deteriorate after 2 hours with micro-holes.

This is how I use gloves: if I go to a grocery store I wear one glove in one hand so that I can touch the self-service pads that hundreds of people touch, to pay for my purchase. I then discard it before I get back to the car, and get my 2oz hand sanitizer and disinfect both hands, the one that didn't have a glove and the one that did. Same with gas pumps. I'll have one glove to handle the pump and punch in the credit card numbers, then I discard it too before going back into the car.

So basically I only use gloves to touch the most heavily trafficked surfaces and just for that specific and short purpose then I discard them.

Please take COVID-19 seriously; don't panic but don't deny it; practice social distancing (stay 6ft from people); wash your hands a lot, don't touch your face, don't gather with too many people, so that you help us contain it.