COVID-19 on a chilly Monday
The news continues to be about the one topic: Bishops are shutting down religious ceremonies, the order of dentists is postponing non-emergency appointments, well-known restaurants are closing till further notice. Food banks need donations and volunteers.
Metro and buses continue to operate normally. Taxi drivers are getting worried about their exposure.
There are endless stories about falling markets, Canadians abroad trying to get home and so on. I’m trying to focus down on Montreal specifically, as always – not ignoring those stories, but not linking them.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to text in to CBC radio during their late afternoon show, and I won a gift certificate to a well-known fancy restaurant (it was being given out as part of the High Lights festival, which may turn out to be the last big festival here for a long time). A friend and I went and had a great nosh with some nice wine. The restaurant, which I’d never visited before, was crowded, and people were relaxed. News of the virus was already out, but we didn’t imagine that in two weeks’ time the resto might have to close and the street outside be nearly empty.
As another friend tweeted, he likes to read science fiction, not get caught up in it.
Michael Black 09:36 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Resilience Montreal is looking for hand sanitizer, they can’t find any. I saw a post directly from Nakuset about it. (They were looking for warmish clothes last week, just a general need.)
Kate 09:46 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Nobody can find any hand sanitizer, Michael Black.
EmilyG 10:36 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
I tried to buy a bottle of hand sanitizer online, but by the time I got to the checkout cart, it was sold out.
Michael Black 10:50 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
I think Nakuset was hoping some of the hoarders would cough some up.
Kate 10:59 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Michael Black, they might as well. Kijiji has shut down resale of sanitizer, masks and other items prone to getting hoarded in a time of pandemic panic.
Raymond Lutz 11:14 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
“Kijiji has shut down resale of sanitizer” Shit! Et la liberté d’entreprendre? Ce sont les entrepreneur qui créent de l’emploi… Les Bronfman n’auraient pas pu développer leurs entreprises si on avaient empêché leur trafic d’alcool durant les 14 ans de la prohibition US! Et on n’auraient pas bénéficié de tous ces emplois!
Raymond Lutz 11:56 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Here’s a Hand sanitizer recipe, copied from a Stanford professor of neurobiology and bioengineering SARS-CoV-2 presentation:
“Hand sanitizer is just 60-70% ethanol with moisturizers.
Home recipes suggest aloe vera gel, but that may be hard to find. You can use glycerol instead; it is a common ingredient in moisturizers and makeup.
‘Lin Lab’ recipe: Mix two parts 95% non-denatured ethanol with 1 part 90-100% glycerol.
– Use non-denatured ethanol, which lacks toxic additives (that is, avoid bottles with the health hazard logo).
– Do not use dehydrated/absolute/anhydrous/100%/200- proof ethanol as that has benzene from the purification process.”
Also learned reading the slides: Windex can be used to sanitize objects! Good to know (I’m emptying Windex Costco racks as I’m typing this).
This Stanford MD hand routine is quite strict, from p.27: “Sanitize objects given to you and only pass objects that have passed your own cleanliness test to
others. For example, I have my hand sanitizer bottle open and ready to clean my credit card immediately after I get them back from cashiers, before I put it back in my wallet.” Go read the whole pdf! But here’s some last snippets:
“Virus presence on surfaces: On steel and plastic, 10-fold drop in ~12 hours; On cardboard, 1 hour.”
“Most transmission correlates with coughing symptoms, according to WHO. Anecdotally, people can spread 1-2 days before having symptoms (e.g. first Germany cases). This makes biological sense; the first replication cycles won’t create enough tissue damage to be noticed.”
Michael Black 12:14 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
My sister was making it (or thinking about it) using vodka. A lot of the available rubbing alcohol isn’t a high enough percentage, you have to look a bit further and pay a bit more. But then I read that drinking alcohol may not be pure enough alcohol wise.
Ephraim 12:46 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
@Michael – They have 70% and 99.9%, but some of the pharmacies have it at the cash, so people don’t horde. You need just one, a small hand spray bottle and a little essential oil (lavender or tea tree, though people don’t usually like the smell of tea tree, but it’s anti-bacterial). Put it in the spray bottle with a drop of essential oil and spray on hands and rub. Different than the gel, but works. If you have the 99.9% stuff, you can mix in some aloe to protect your hands. If you only have the 70%, just the tea tree oil or lavender essential oil.
jeather 13:23 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Tea tree oil is poisonous to most household pets when concentrated, be careful if you have cats or dogs.
Chris 17:22 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
People, soap is *more* effective than alcohol/sanitizer in killing the virus you know.
Michael Black 17:27 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Yes, but you aren’t always near a sink. Especially if you’re homeless.