Coronavirus News: New Jersey distillery making hand sanitizer during COVID-19 outbreak

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Thursday, March 19, 2020
Coronavirus Updates: New Jersey distillery making hand sanitizer during COVID-19 outbreak
Rob Nelson reports on the New Jersey distillery switching gears amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

FAIRFIELD, New Jersey (WABC) -- A New Jersey distillery is switching gears amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, focusing its production efforts on the now hard-to-find hand sanitizer.

At the Claremont Distillery in Fairfield, it's no longer about "bottoms up" these days. Rather, it's all about "hands out."

Much like the rest of us during this pandemic, distillery owner Tim Koether and his family had a tough time finding hand sanitizer anywhere in stores, so he came up with the simple solution of making his own.

He's already started distilling hundreds of gallons of alcohol, and with a big shipment of aloe gel expected Thursday, he will start mixing and then handing out his homemade sanitizer later this week.

He plans to offer it to the general public and for free, and he already has about 1,500 plastic bottles ready to go.

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