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Houston stores limit purchase of disinfectant amid coronavirus scare

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Published  March 2, 2020 6:54pm CST
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FOX 26 Houston

Houston stores limit mask purchases as threat of coronavirus looms

Houston residents are getting aggressive with disinfecting their surroundings to protect themselves from coronavirus.

HOUSTON - As U.S. cases of coronavirus continue to spread and on a day when the death toll has increased in our country alone, buying disinfectant is becoming more difficult.  You can only buy a few cleaning products at HEB 'in-store' and even if you go online you’ll see this message "Due to high demand we have a limit of 4 disinfectant products per order" and HEB isn't alone.

There's no shortage of people in the parking lot at Kroger but the same can't be said for products on store shelves, in the cleaning aisle.

”This is what I bought. It kills 99.9% bacteria and viruses. That's what I was looking for but they just didn't have the Clorox brand. It was all out,” explains expecting mom Sandra Alvarado. 

Hand sanitizer is what Sani Chan went into Kroger to buy. “Yeah.  There is none.” 

“I was in Costco. They didn't have any disinfectants,” adds another woman in the Kroger parking lot. 

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So many people are purchasing disinfectants to protect from the coronavirus, leaving stores limiting what you can buy.  On the Kroger website, we found this message "We will be limiting the number of sanitization, cold and flu-related products to 5 per order".

HEB released this statement, "We are temporarily limiting the purchase of disinfecting sprays, wipes, hand sanitizer, and hand soap to four units of each product per transaction".

This comes as the CDC recommends cleaning frequently touched surfaces and objects such as counters, light switches, laptops, phones, and doorknobs daily.

”Any commercially available product that kills viruses you should use that. The other option would be if you have bleach, use one cup of bleach per five gallons of water,” explains Porfirio Villareal with the Houston Health Department. 

“I even disinfect the bottom of my shoes when I get home. I want to protect my baby,” says Alvarado. 

Although health professionals say simple surgical masks to protect from the virus are likely ineffective, many Houstonians are also shopping for those.

”We tried CVS but they were not available there. So we'll try Kroger,” says Saima Hussein. Home Depot says because of the demand, the store has set a limit of 10 masks per person.

In addition to disinfecting and washing your kid's backpack routinely in hot water, the CDC recommends washing your hands with plenty of soap for at least 20 seconds several times a day.