Everyday Carry

Carry Smarter: Precautions During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Authored by:
Bernard Capulong
Carry Smarter: Precautions During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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Here at Everyday Carry we’ve been dedicated to finding you the best gear to carry in the spirit of preparedness. In light of the recent coronavirus pandemic, you might be wondering what changes you can make to your EDC to stay safe, healthy, and prepared. The reality is the best measures you can take to do your part in the fight against this pandemic are opposite of what it traditionally means to be an EDCer. Rather than staying on the go with pockets full of gear, it’s recommended that you stay inside, work from home if you have the privilege to, cancel social events and gatherings, and practice social distancing and healthy hygiene. In this post we’ll provide some tips and resources to help us all stay safe during this time.

What are useful things to carry during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic?

Ideally, you wouldn’t need to change much to your carry because you’re spending the next two weeks (and possibly longer) at home in self-quarantine.

If your situation doesn’t allow you to stay at home and you must commute or spend time in public places, the best thing you can carry is hand sanitizer or hand rub with at least 60% alcohol. Hand sanitizer is effective at killing viruses that may be on your hands when you don’t have access to soap and water to wash with. By now hand sanitizer is in short supply, so try to wash your hands as often as possible.

If you can’t find hand sanitizer, there are some DIY options available. The quick recipe is 3 parts isopropyl alcohol (99% to achieve a mix with a final concentration of 60% or better) to 1 part aloe vera gel with a few drops of essential oil, according to WIRED.

Disposable pocket tissues are also helpful to cover your coughs and sneezes in public as a safe alternative to covering your mouth or nose with your hands. If you happen to cough or sneeze, it’s good respiratory hygiene to use a tissue to catch the droplets that could spread viruses, immediately dispose of the used tissue, then clean your hands with hand sanitizer or washing with soap and water.

Sanitizing wipes and alcohol wipes can clean and disinfect gear you need to touch and use often (like an EDC pen or smartphone, for example). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend cleaning surfaces you touch frequently and provide information on how to best do that here. While it’s not completely understood yet, preliminary research suggests COVID-19 behaves similar to other coronaviruses and can persist on surfaces for a few hours up to several days, according to the WHO. Now would also be a good time to revisit cleaning and maintaining your EDC gear in general while you might not be using it during quarantine.

To help with dry hands from frequent coronavirus handwashing, you might want to add a travel bottle or tin of hand lotion / moisturizing cream. Note that this is just for general skin care and isn’t specifically necessary to combat novel coronavirus.

What about face masks? There’s a lot to consider when and how to use a face mask, as it depends on your situation. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises to use a mask with these four considerations in mind:

  1. If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.
  2. Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.
  3. Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
  4. If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly.

Keep in mind that there’s a worldwide shortage of masks. Masks are a crucial resource for healthcare professionals working to treat those who are infected. To avoid wasting or misusing face masks, please refer to WHO’s dedicated webpage for advice on proper use and disposal of masks.

In terms of general EDC preparedness not specific to coronavirus, you might be interested in preparing an emergency kit or bug out bag — refer to our guide on that here.

What other things can I do for my safety and the safety of others?

The primary precautions you can take to help reduce the chances of being infected or spreading COVID-19 boil down to hand- and respiratory hygiene and social distancing.

Some hygiene tips:

  • Make it a habit to regularly and thoroughly clean your hands by washing with soap and water or using hand sanitizer to kill viruses that might be on your hands. Here’s a guide from the NHS on how to wash your hands properly for about 20 seconds, complete with video.
  • Avoid touching your face with your hands. Even with frequent handwashing and sanitizing there’s a chance you can pick up viruses from touching different surfaces, and those viruses can enter your body through your eyes, nose, or mouth.
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes (not with your hands!). Use a tissue to catch droplets that could spread viruses, then dispose of the tissue immediately. If you can’t grab a tissue in time, cough or sneeze into your bent elbow instead of your hands or into the air.

Social distancing precautions:

  • Stay home and self-quarantine if you have the means and opportunity to self-isolate.
  • If you are around people, keep a distance of at least 6 feet or 2 meters if they are coughing or sneezing to avoid exposure to droplets that can spread the virus.

Remember, even if you are feeling healthy and are at low risk of falling ill to COVID-19, by disregarding these precautions you could be putting those who are at high risk (such as the elderly or those with already compromised immune systems or severe underlying medical conditions) in danger. Self-quarantine and social distancing helps slow the spread of the virus to a degree that’s more manageable for hospitals and treatment centers as well. As inconvenient or disruptive as it may be, taking precaution here keeps you, and more importantly, those at high risk, safer.

Where can I learn more about COVID-19 / novel coronavirus?

There’s unfortunately plenty of misinformation about novel coronavirus on various social media platforms. There are also many topics and specifics we didn’t cover in this article. Please refer to the following links as a starting point to stay informed during this time:

Thanks for your attention. In the meantime here at Everyday Carry we’ll still be publishing gear-related content for you to enjoy during quarantine, as our staff largely works remotely/from home already (more on that, later). 

If it means more of us will be staying in, we also welcome pocket dump and EDC photo submissions of what you’re EDCing around the house! You can share your EDC by signing up and uploading your photo here

If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it with your friends, family, and fellow EDCers. Stay safe, stay healthy, and carry on (at home if you can).

This post was last updated on March 16th, 3:10PM PDT with clearer, more accurate recommendations for DIY hand sanitizer.

Bernard Capulong

Founder and Editor-in-Chief


About the Author
Bernard Capulong is an everyday carry (EDC) gear expert, entrepreneur, all-around nerd, and the founder and editor-in-chief of EverydayCarry.com—the largest online community for EDC gear enthusiasts. Since founding Everyday Carry in 2009, he’s built over a decade of experience in the industry, reviewing and highlighting brands and products, including pocket knives, flashlights, wallets, watches, bags, pens, and much more.

Bernard is known for bringing everyday carry out of obscurity and into the mainstream, having been published or featured in various publications such as GQ, TIME Magazine, The New York Times, VICE, HYPEBEAST, Outside, and many others. He has also played a part in curating, designing, and developing digital and physical products, resulting in successful crowdfunding projects or limited edition collaboration products with established softgoods brands. He stays on the pulse of the EDC industry by attending trade shows, participating in online interest communities, and actively engaging with fellow gear enthusiasts on social media.

In addition to being the editor-in-chief and main social media personality for EverydayCarry.com, Bernard is an avid gearhead and collector in general. His personal collections span technical bags, fountain pens, digital cameras, retro gaming hardware, personal hi-fi audio gear, and mechanical wristwatches, to name a few. Bernard Capulong is a prominent figure and trusted authority in the everyday carry industry with a career dedicated to helping people discover this hobby and stay prepared with quality gear.

Discussion (17 total)

Paul Tobeck ·
It's really sad that far too many people did not take this seriously and spread mis-information about how dangerous this virus is. It is NOT "just like the flu". We've reached this point where a complete lockdown (at least the major cities and airports) is now inevitable. Cases are still multiplying by a factor of 10 every 2 weeks with no signs of slowing down. If you haven't already prepared to be home for a minimum of 2 weeks (not likely long enough) with extra food, water, medicines, cleaning supplies, do so now. Shop the out-of-the-way or lesser known stores to avoid the shortages from the TP crazies at the big box stores. Make sure elderly family members and friends and those with pre-existing conditions that put them at high risk have enough supplies and are staying home. Cancel unnecessary appointments if the venue in question isn't smart enough to have done so already. Be aware, stay informed, protect your families and stay the F home!
Sean ·
This is the most responsible messaging I’ve seen in a while. Thank you.
Eduardo Di Benedetto ·
Concuerdo en todo con la nota. Aquí en Argentina estamos en aislamiento social obligatorio, todos en casa. Debo decirles que aprendí mucho de estar preparado de esta página o páginas que vengo siguiendo en su versión en español como las de Fema y CDC. El alcohol en gel es importante pero en Argentina se hace hincapié en lavado de manos con agua y jabón, y mucho uso de lejía.
AMATT ·
a KeySmart is easier to clean than a bunch of keys on a keychain
CHENHAO ZHANG ·
blackberry is cool phone:)
1 more comments