When the coronavirus made its way stateside, most Americans went out to their local supermarkets in a panic and bought tons of toilet paper and disinfectants - so much so that they totally cleared the shelves. Now that the country is well over a month into living with COVID-19, toilet paper has once again started to appear in stores, but the disinfectants are still very hard to come by and according to supply chain experts, they won't be widely available again until July at the earliest.
By then, most people will likely have run out of their stash, so what can they do to protect themselves against surfaces and objects that could potentially carry coronavirus? Well there is actually a way to make your own disinfecting wipes, and you might have all the ingredients you need at home.
The first thing you need is a roll of paper towels. You need to cut the roll in half with a knife so that you wind up with two rolls, each about the about as wide as toilet paper. Next, mix two tablespoons of bleach and two cups of water. Place one of the rolls in an airtight container and pour the solution on top of it, making sure it gets fully saturated. Once it is wet and covered in the solution, take out the cardboard roll from the middle. Then, grab a sheet from the center and pull up. It should dispense just like a container of wipes. Be sure to close up the container when you are finished using it.
If you'd prefer to do a spray, you have a couple options. The easiest is using a bottle of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol). As long as the concentration of it is 70% or higher, it's enough to kill the virus, and you could actually just screw a spray top onto the bottle itself and use that to get COVID-19 off of surfaces. However, it can discolor some plastics so you should do a spot test first.
Another option for a spray is creating one with bleach and water. If you decide to to this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest using a 1:48 solution, which means 1/3 cup of bleach for every gallon of water. Meanwhile, Clorox recommends doing 1/2 cup of bleach per gallon. Either way, to truly kill the virus, you actually need to let the solution sit on surfaces for 10 minutes. That's also the case for many of the brand name cleaners.
If you do decide to make your own bleach solution, never mix more than you plan to use in a day or two since the effectiveness of bleach quickly declines after it is taken from its original storage contain.
Also, bleach sprays and wipes are great for hard surfaces and while they will work on other materials, it could also damage them - especially fabrics. Like the rubbing alcohol, you should consider testing it on a small area first to see if it is harming the material. Also, you should wear gloves while using bleach, make sure your space is ventilated and, most importantly, never mix it with ammonia or anything containing ammonia, like window cleaners, or anything acidic, like vinegar or rust removers. Doing so will create a lethal gas.
As for any recipe you see suggesting you make disinfectants using natural items like vinegar, tea tree oils, essential oils or vodka, skip them - while they might make for helpful cleaning agents, they are not tough enough to kill the coronavirus.
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