Berks County residents have been snapping up any hand sanitizers, sterile masks and gloves they can find amid reports of the coronavirus spreading across the nation and world and now coming to Pennsylvania.
“We ran out of hand sanitizer and face masks sometime last week,” said Madison Moore, store supervisor at the Rite Aid pharmacy on Route 724 in Kenhorst.
Many local pharmacies and supermarkets are reporting open shelves normally set aside for hand sanitizer, and that was before Friday and the announcement by Gov. Tom Wolf that there are two coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania.
El Santana, co-owner of the Flying Hills Pharmacy, 2431 Morgantown Road, also known as Route 10, in Cumru Township, said the pharmacy is out of hand sanitizer, face masks and even rubbing alcohol and anti-bacterial soap.
Basically anything anti-bacterial, like hand soaps, and sterile items like masks and latex gloves are all gone, Santana said. Despite multiple calls to a wholesaler, he has had no luck and everything is on back order.
The shelf for disinfecting wipes at the Redners Market is similarly sparse.
At Rite-Aid, employees are checking often with the company warehouse for news of any new supplies of the germ-fighting products.
Redner’s Warehouse Markets doesn’t warehouse such products, said spokesman Eric White.
“We do have an issue in stores with our in-store stock of hand sanitizer,” White said.
“Not all, but the majority or our locations are wiped out (of hand sanitizer),” White said. “Store managers have ordered all remaining stock from our supplier, but they’re not guaranteeing anything at this point.”
Also of concern, White said, is an apparent run on items normally stored in home emergency supply kits people stock with canned goods, water and other nonperishable items in advance of a major storm or other catastrophe.
“They (emergency preparedness agencies) suggest you have all the standard stuff that’s potentially going to be in limited supply,” he said. “People also are starting to buy those products.”
For now though, White said anything that kills germs, like Lysol and Clorox brand sanitizing wipes, spray disinfectants and cleaning agents also are flying off the shelves.
As consumers chase commercial hand sanitizer from store to store, health care professionals continue to insist that even the best hand sanitizer is no match for good, old-fashioned hand-washing.
The shelf for disinfecting wipes at the Redners Warehouse Market in Wyomissing Thursday evening March 5, 2020 where they are sold out of hand sanitizer and have low stock on disinfecting wipes as a result of concern about the possible spread of coronavirus COVID-19 in the United States.
Marie Keim, director of Epidemiology and Infection Prevention for Tower Health, is one such advocate of soapy water over chemical quick fixes.
“Thorough and frequent hand washing with soap and warm water is a method for protecting oneself from the transmission of bacteria and viruses,” Keim said in an email.
“Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are an alternative,” she conceded.
