UWC’s Response to COVID-19

In-person UWC activities are put on pause until further notice.

We appreciate our role in helping to provide a safe and healthy space for the Members and guests of the UWC during the evolving situation of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Therefore, the UWC Board has decided to put on pause all in-person UWC activities until further notice.  We know this will be a disappointment to many of you, but we are working on hosting virtual activities until it is safe for us to meet in-person again.

Prevention measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 are similar to those utilized against the common cold and flu. Those measures include frequent hand cleansing and avoiding touching one’s face with unwashed hands.  Remember that hand washing for at least 20 seconds with soap is necessary for disinfection.  Also, sneezing and coughing into tissues (or the crook of your elbow) are part of the precautions that we can take to minimize infection.

On how to make your own hand sanitizer: 

UWC Member Melodye Rooney PhD has provided us with the following information on hand sanitizers.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA, recommends that sanitizers contain 60% to 95% alcohol in order to eradicate germs. Sanitizers work best on clean hands and may be less effective when hands are greasy or visibly dirty, according to the CDC. Take about 3ml and make sure you cover your hands thoroughly.

The hand sanitizer described here contains isopropyl alcohol, to kill the viruses, mixed with aloe Vera gel, to keep your hands from drying out too much.

Melodye’s hand sanitizer recipes:

Unscented hand sanitizer:

  • 120 ml Isopropyl alcohol, 99%  (van Rossum, Buenos Aires)

  • 55 ml Aloe vera gel (US Topco brand)

Scented hand sanitizer:

  • 120 ml Isopropyl alcohol, 99%  (van Rossum, Buenos Aires)

  • 55 ml Aloe vera gel (US Topco brand)

  • 15 drops each tea tree oil, lavender oil (from Sage and Cedar, a U.S. company)

The ratio of alcohol to gel must be at last 60%. With a 99% concentration of alcohol, this formulation is about 68% alcohol. If you would like to make your own, Melodye has all the equipment and supplies to help you. If you do it at home, make sure your bottles are all cleaned (as a final rinse, use pure alcohol), and also that you carefully measure your quantities. If you are using less than 99% isopropyl or ethyl alcohol, then you need to add more alcohol solution to gel, and you need to know if the alcohol solution percentage is by weight or volume.

Further information on how to make your own hand sanitizers can be found here, here, and here.

If you have any questions, contact Melodye at u.w.c.cont.ed@gmail.com.