--- title: "This, Not Hand Sanitizer, Will Save Us from the COVID-19 Coronavirus" description: "Washing your hands with soap and water has been proven to be the best hand sanitizer to fight the coronavirus." date: "2020-03-10" modified: "2020-03-13" authors: - name: "Foster Kamer" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/foster" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/soap-water-best-hand-sanitizer-coronavirus" categories: - "Chemistry" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Pathogens" - "Science & Energy" - "Viruses" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid-19" - "organic chemistry" --- # This, Not Hand Sanitizer, Will Save Us from the COVID-19 Coronavirus ![If you think you're cleaning your hands right with hand sanatizer, or gels, or swipes, think again. There's only one right way to do it — and here's how.]() *\Image: Public Domain Pictures/Victor Tangermann\* In the global health war against the COVID-19 coronavirus, there are two measures we know of that effectively prevent the spread of the outbreak while the world waits on a vaccine: Quarantine/social isolation, and cleaning your hands. But what's the best — if not only surefire way — to get that right? **Washing them with soap and water.** Not hand sanitizer. Not just water. It's soap and water. This might seem obvious, but it turns out there's a truly fascinating bit of science involved in the way viruses cling to our skin. Once you learn just how weaponized you are with water and a little bit of soap, there's no turning back. Also, it'll make you realize that panic**-**buying hand sanitizer is slightly absurd — when all you need is water (and a little bit of soap). [Palli Thordarson](), a professor at the University of New South Wales School of Chemistry, took to Twitter on Sunday night for a 25-part thread about exactly what happens when water and soap hit your mitts. In the first part of the thread, he explains why soap and water basically take out the bottom piece of a tower of Jenga blocks, or, in his words, a house of cards: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549307525808128 It gets really wonderful early on, when Thordarson basically illuminates why one of the most common things in the world — not hand sanitizer or any of the ostensibly fancier or more portable products available to us — are the key to fighting COVID-19: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549311095136257 The next few tweets go into the chemical breakdown of nanoparticals: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549314760998912 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549318439387137 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549321950027776 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549325443854336 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549329252265984 And then there's that whole "sneezes can send particles flying from 30 feet away" thing, which, honestly, we might try to forget. But there it is: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549332859367424 Also, here's even more stuff you didn't know: The ways in which various surfaces do and don't carry the virus. Flat surfaces? Less to stick to for the virus. Rougher surfaces? Plenty to pull the virus apart on. https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549336487485441 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549340090347520 And your skin? Your skin is COVID-19's favorite surface, basically: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549343689105413 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236549347430432768 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553244559544320 And here's where the hand-washing fun comes into play: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553248862957569 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553253736738816 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553258149134337 Not that you need reminding, but please do not wash your hands with Tito's, or Jack Daniel's. It's a perfectly good waste of both: https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553263480107008 https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553268127395841 And finally, the conclusion, et voila: Soap. And. Water. https://twitter.com/PalliThordarson/status/1236553272757903360 Please feel free to anoint [Prof. Palli Thordarson](), a prize of a human, how you shall — long live, Prof. Soapy, Soapy King, Soapy Daddy, et al — but really, the best way to thank this guy for his service to the world is, pretty obviously, by washing your hands with soap and water, often, and well. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()