claim: a homemade hand sanitizer made with tito's vodka can be used to fight the new coronavirus.
question: can a homemade tito’s vodka hand sanitizer help stem coronavirus?
origin: as the coronavirus known as covid-19 spread around the globe in march 2020, a piece of advice repeated frequently was to wash your hands often. the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) recommends using soap and water, but the internet had another suggestion: tito’s vodka.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  a popular rumor on social media held that people could fight off the coronavirus by combining hand gel and tito’s vodka in a homemade hand sanitizer:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this is not true. tito’s vodka cannot be used to make effective hand sanitizer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  a number of diy articles on the internet explain how to make homemade hand sanitizer. while some of these articles specified that vodka containing at least 60% alcohol was required to make an effective hand sanitizer, others simply stated that any vodka would do. good housekeeping, for instance, published an article on march 2 that told readers they could make homemade hand sanitizer with any “plain vodka.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  but that isn’t the case. the cdc writes that people can use an “alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol” if soap and water is not available. but most vodkas (including tito’s) only contain 40%.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  tito’s has been responding to people on social media informing them that the product is not a suitable hand sanitizer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this is hardly the first piece of bad advice to circulate on social media during the coronavirus outbreak. read more in our “coronavirus collection.” for up-to-date information on the coronavirus outbreak, please visit the cdc website.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: as the coronavirus spread in 2020, a fierce outbreak of bad advice took hold online.
summary: a popular rumor on social media held that people could fight off the coronavirus by combining hand gel and tito’s vodka in a homemade hand sanitizer. this is not true. the cdc recommends using soap and water, but the internet had another suggestion. most vodkas (including titos) only contain 40% alcohol, according to the cdc. it is hardly the first piece of bad advice to circulate onsocial media during the outbreak.