This Texas Woman Suffered Burns After She Used Sanitizer And Went Near A Flame. We’ve To Be More Careful About Our Protective Measures

We know how this pandemic began. Bats in the Wuhan province of China carry a strain of the coronavirus which somehow ended up in a person and well, the rest is history. What we still don’t know is when the coronavirus is going to leave. It’s been six months since our world was infiltrated and even now, we have a bare minimum understanding and absolutely no certainty. Some articles say that for this pandemic to come to an end, we either need herd immunity or a vaccine. And right now, both those are so far down the line that they look like little dots to us. For now, all we can do is learn to live with this disease. Do what all animals are known for-adapt. Continue going through life while wearing masks, PPE gear and rub sanitizer on our hands every 5 minutes. Sounds like a fun way to live, no? 

While this is not a foolproof plan, it’s all we have at the moment. Here’s the thing though, even though masks and alcohol-based sanitizers have come to be honorary members of our family now, we must not forget that they too come with their own set of dangers. For instance, this woman caught on fire because she used sanitizer just before lighting a candle. 

This extremely terrifying case from Austin, Texas is a reminder that we can’t take our protective measures for granted. The woman, Kate Wise, is a single mom to three daughters. According to reports, Kate is in the intensive care unit with 18% burns to her body. 

A Texas woman's body caught on fire after she used an 'off-brand' hand sanitizer and lit a candle in her home https://t.co/FjI3cuvGn4

— #TheResistance (@BoneKnightmare) September 6, 2020

Kate was planning on watching a movie with her daughters. She put on an off-brand hand sanitizer then went on to light candles. The flames “made contact” with her and the sanitizer “exploded”, igniting her face and body. 

She told KHOU, a local TV station, that, “It can be something as small as lighting a candle,” Further adding, “Because of the hand sanitizer, it just lit my whole … everywhere I had hand sanitizer on my hand, it just lit my hand with fire. And it obviously went all over my face. And, in like a matter of five seconds, my whole body was just consumed in flames.” 

According to the KHOU report, two of her daughters went to the neighbours to call the authorities and to get help. In the meantime, Kate, while being inflamed, managed to get her disabled daughter and pets out of the house. What a brave woman! 

Also Read: A Depraved Man Burnt His Girlfriend’s Face Using A Sanitiser Because His Ego Was Hurt. Is There No End To Toxic Masculinity?

Be careful. https://t.co/vT7I4Ic3ey

— Lea Black (@LeaBlackMiami) September 4, 2020

Kate’s friend, Kathryn Bonesteel, created a GoFundMe page to help raise donations to cover her medical costs and to recover from all the fire damage. 

The fundraiser page says that Kate wants to highlight her story to warn people about the dangers of some of the protective products that we buy to curb the spread of COVID 19. The page says, “COVID-19 has brought many unsafe products to our shelves. Many of which have not been properly tested and are not safe. Be careful of what you put on your body.” 

We don’t know what brand of sanitizer she used but most of the products we use to protect ourselves from the virus, contain a high percentage of ethyl alcohol. Which means that they are all highly flammable. 

If I’m being honest, before reading about Kate’s horrifying ordeal, the dangers of sanitizer being highly flammable did not even cross my mind. The need for these preventive products is higher than ever but we also have to be extremely careful and use them mindfully.

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/mothers-positive-with-covid-19-can-breastfeed-their-babies-says-wcd-the-virus-doesnt-pass-on/