[pianotech] H1N1

[David Love]

Washing is better but in a pinch I'd use the hand sanitizer and keep my
hands away from my face anyway.  BTW those suggestions about running salt
water through your nose and gargling seems to be a waste of time according
to all the doctors I know.  Unless you are lucky enough to do it immediately
after exposure (and even then) probably useless.  Might even be
counterproductive if what you run through your nose actually irritates the
mucous membranes making them more susceptible to infection.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Bruce Dornfeld
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 5:19 PM
To: pianotech
Subject: [pianotech] H1N1

 

David Love says:

Not exactly.  Alcohol based hand sanitizers can be effective against viruses
depending on the alcohol content and the amount used.  While it may not be
as good as vigorous hand washing it is certainly better than nothing and I
wouldn't hesitate to use them.  Not using them because they provide a false
security seems counterproductive.  All hand sanitizers need to be rubbed in
until the hands are dry.  There won't be any fire hazard then.  Viruses
actually can live longer on non porous surfaces such as plastic whether they
are clean or not.  They can typically live on your hands up to about an hour
and under the best of circumstances can live on outside the body for up to

48 hours.  Lots of reading available on this subject.   

 

Well David, I have to say most experts agree with you on hand sanitizers and
viruses, H1N1 or others.  On the other hand the only scientific studies I
saw referred to were ones sponsored or released by companies making hand
sanitizers.  CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says, "There are not a lot of data
actually on how effective those sanitizers are against viruses. There have
been some studies done over the years and the conclusion is washing your
hands with soap and water is still probably the best idea. If you are having
a busy day and it is hard to get to a sink, then carrying a bottle of hand
sanitizer would be a good idea."

I should explain my thoughts better. A bottle of sanitizer that has been
sitting around a while or is more empty than full may not have the alcohol
content that is recommended.  Even if it is extremely effective though, if
you rub your eyes or nose with your fingers while working on a piano, you
could be infecting yourself.  It is not easy to so self aware while working
that you can stop this kind of touching, but that is what I am aiming for.
To put it another way, even if you kill viruses with hand sanitizer before
and after each piano, hands to the face while you are working on a piano can
still get you.  That is why I consider it false security.  I think it would
be better for us to kills the viruses on the keys.  Here again, you are
correct.  The virus can live on a hard surface like plastic for some time,
Cory Key Brite will not kill them.  Does anyone use something like Lysol
Disinfectant spray on piano keys?  That stuff is supposed to be 99%
effective within thirty seconds.  That would really make the keys safe and
school jobs would not be as potentially dangerous.  I worry about what it
might do to the keys though.   

 

Bruce Dornfeld, RPT

bdornfeld at earthlink.net

North Shore Chapter

 

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