Distilleries are making hand sanitizer and giving it out for free to combat coronavirus

As people around the U.S. prepare to self-quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic, hand sanitizer has flown off the shelves of local supermarkets and pharmacies. Now, distilleries are stepping in to help and using their own alcohol to make free sanitizing solutions.

Aside from soap and water, public health experts say that cleaning your hands with a 60% alcohol-based solution is one of the best ways to avoid infection, leading consumers to panic-buy hand sanitizer in large quantities. Some businesses are limiting the number of sanitizers customers can buy per visit, while others are increasing their prices in stores and online.

While it's possible to make your own hand sanitizer at home, even the necessary ingredients have proven difficult to find in recent weeks. And distilleries across the country have taken note, coming up with a clever solution to the sanitizer shortage: using in-house alcohol for homemade sanitizer.

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