A rush on hand sanitizers at local drug stores

MILL CREEK — Hailey Wheelis went to four drug stores near Mill Creek on Thursday before she finally found a bottle of hand sanitizer in stock.

“It is almost like gold right now,” she said, clutching a sanitizer spray-bottle outside a Walgreens in south Everett. “I could probably sell it.”

Hand sanitizers became valuable commodities as concern grew Thursday about potential swine flu cases in Snohomish County. Surgical and dust masks also became hard-to-get products.

Wheelis’ bottle of sanitizer was for customers at the salon where she works a half-mile north of the Everett Clinic in Mill Creek. A pediatrician at the clinic has been identified as a possible swine flu victim.

Many stores in the county were fully stocked with sanitizing gels, sanitizing wipes and masks.

But stores closest to the clinic were not.

Less than half a mile from the clinic, a Rite Aid pharmacy was sold out of masks. The shelf that normally offers hand sanitizer gels was almost barren — at lunchtime, only four bottles of the store brand gel remained. Nine other types were already sold out.

A few aisles away, Linda Kruger found a box of sanitizer wipes to toss into her cart.

Being prepared means stocking up, said Kruger, who lives in north Seattle and works in Mill Creek.

“Just like any smart person, you want to be ready,” Kruger said. “I’m not saying we’re freaking out, but to be prepared for the worst (is important).”

Kruger’s 18-month-old daughter Allison normally attends day-care at Kindercare, which also is less than a half mile from the Everett Clinic campus. Allison is home this week with her grandmother, who is in town from Europe. The family isn’t going to send her back Monday without checking the news first, Kruger said.

People are paying attention in Wheelis’ salon, too.

“Normally, we turn the TVs on mute and we listen to (music on) the radio,” she said. “But all day today, we’ve been listening to the news.”

Chris Fyall: 425-339-3447, cfyall@heraldnet.com.