Hand sanitizer is scarce right now, but there's more on the way.  

I ran across some old mini-bottles of hand sanitizer in a drawer the other day and I happy danced.  Over hand sanitizer!  I felt ridiculous, but it was truly a better feeling than finding a twenty in my pants pocket on the way to the washing machine.

Surely they're making more of this stuff, right?  Yes.  The manufacturers have noticed that sales are up, and they are ramping up production as we speak.

The Today Show said sales of hand sanitizer are up 300 percent since January, and Purell is one manufacturer that is dramatically increasing production.  Purell said it's seen a big increase in demand, but it's "still below historic levels" compared to some past outbreaks.  I guess that's good news.

When you think about it, the hand sanitizer makers really have a huge task ahead of them.  Hospitals, gyms, office buildings, churches, and even movie theaters and arcades all have squirt dispensers on their walls, and any building that doesn't have the dispensers already probably has a plan to install them soon.  So it's not just bottles of hand sanitizer for consumers that the manufacturers have to crank out.  It's public buildings too.  That's millions of gallons of disinfectant, and everybody wants a refill.

If you notice price gouging on hand sanitizer in Idaho, you can report that to the Attorney General's office.  If it was $4.50 three weeks ago and now it's $75, that ain't right.

Purell and other companies aren't saying exactly when fresh supplies will hit the shelves, but with demand as high as it is and with the amount of profit those companies could potentially see, we can guess it's not going to be very long.

But expect limits on how many you can buy.  Several stores are limiting buyers to two, and that's expected to continue.

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