Hand sanitizer harder to come by amidst swine flu scare

PROVO -- Worries over the swine flu are making it tougher to find hand sanitizer.

Inside the Provo Macey's grocery store there are some bottles of hand sanitizer, but several brands have sold out, even after the store stocked up on product just as they started hearing about the outbreak of swine flu.

"Our warehouse is working to get stuff back in," store director Steve Bitter said.

He says there's been a run on several items people feel will help protect them from swine flu.

"Clorox sanitizing wipes are selling well as well. A shortage on the masks, too. We're having a hard time getting masks," Bitter said.

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In Salt Lake, stores are running into the same problem. "They ask me if I know of another place they can find it, and I say they'll be lucky to find any. It's pretty much sold out everywhere," said William Reeves, manager of the Smith's Marketplace downtown

Reeves says his store usually keeps the shelves stocked with a couple hundred bottles of gel sanitizer, but its stock was gone after news of the flu being in Utah broke.

The Smiths warehouse is apparently wiped out as well, and Reeves says he has no way of ordering more. He still has a pallet of disinfecting wipes, but those are going quickly as well.

KSL News has learned several large suppliers for various stores are getting more hand sanitizer orders than they can fill.

Bitter says more products will come in, but in the mean time, you might have to check a few stores before finding what you want.

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Story compiled with contributions from Randall Jeppesen and Nicole Gonzales.

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