When Sandy Summers picks up her children - ages 6 and 10 - at elementary school, they're greeted with squirts of hand sanitizer.
"When they get in the car, I put a glob on their hands," said the nurse, who lives in Homeland. "If they're going to eat a snack in the car, I make them use some. ... If I go to the grocery store, when I get in the car, the first thing I do is use the sanitizer. If I forget to use it before I touch the steering wheel, I put a whole bunch on my hands and just wipe it all over the steering wheel.
"With the flu season approaching, I find that we're using it more."
The germ-killing gel, foam and spray is suddenly everywhere, with dispensers bolted to walls in supermarkets, hospitals and kindergarten classrooms, with giant bottles standing guard at church services, with tiny ones stowed in purses, briefcases and backpacks. Fears of H1N1 flu have led the state to install dispensers in the public areas of all 56 of its office buildings.
Hand sanitizer has grown into a more than $112 million-a-year industry in the United States, and sales have been rising, much of it due to the swine flu pandemic. With the mantra "wash your hands" being practically shouted from the rooftops - President Barack Obama has encouraged it, while Sesame Street's Elmo is sharing the message in public service announcements - many people are using alcohol-based sanitizer as a quick and convenient alternative to good old soap and water.
And while some efforts are being made to more frequently disinfect surfaces where the swine flu virus may live - subway cars and buses in Washington are undergoing weekly cleansings - governments and businesses are putting out sanitizer in hopes that people will protect themselves and others around them by actually using the stuff. Liberally.
"Everyone has a role to play in stopping the spread of flu," said David Paulson, spokesman for the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "Everyone has to take personal responsibility. That means keeping clean, covering your cough, getting the vaccine."
The conventional wisdom among public health officials is that hand sanitizer works well, but soaping up at the sink is best because it is the only way to wash off dirt. But others say hand sanitizer may actually be better, especially since so few people wash their hands properly and because the gels are always at the ready when you have sneezed or pushed an elevator button or turned a doorknob.
