Hand sanitizer being rationed at grocery store chain amid coronavirus buying frenzy

Kroger, one of America's largest supermarket chains, has capped the amount of sanitizating and cold and flu products customers can order on its website, due to the high volume of demand amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The company's website pinned a message to the top of its main webpage, directly underneath the Internet address bar.

"Due to high demand and to support all customers, we will be limiting the number of Sanitization, Cold and Flu-related products to 5 each per order," the message read. "Your order may be modified at time of pickup or delivery."

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Gary Millerchip, Kroger's senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the media's coverage of the virus has made customers hypervigilant and driven up the demand for such items.

“I think you’ve seen more in response to the media activity and some of the advice out there in the market of customers starting to spend more on things like water and hand sanitizer and soap,”  he said Thursday on a conference call with analysts, according to the New York Post.

The news comes after Tito's Vodka responded to inquires on Wednesday, about whether or not its product could be used to craft homemade hand sanitizer.

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"Per the CDC, hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol. Tito's Handmade Vodka is 40% alcohol, and therefore does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC," the company wrote in a Wednesday Twitter message. "Please see attached for more information."

Fox News published a recipe for making homemade hand sanitizer on Tuesday, that uses 99 percent rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or ethanol, aloe vera gel, and essential oil.

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Thus far, there have been at least 95,270 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide and 3,280 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). As of Thursday afternoon, there were at least 149 cases of the disease in the United States, resulting in 11 deaths.

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