(CNN) — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced on Friday that it has increased its carry-on liquid limit to up to 12 ounces for hand sanitizers.
While this news comes as a comfort, I couldn’t help but wonder: Where, pray tell, am I to even find a 12-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer? One that isn’t marked up by 300% or so?
Hand sanitizer is a hot commodity
Hand sanitizer is suddenly very popular.
Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
I walked around my Brooklyn neighborhood on Saturday searching for hand sanitizer. My two-ounce bottle is half-full and not nearly enough to see me through. There are two Rite Aids within 10 blocks of my home, one CVS and two local pharmacies, and they all were sold out.
I went to the corner bodega two blocks away to pick up a few more cans of soup and other non-perishable items. Then, right next to the register, I spotted it: One 8-ounce bottle, for $14.99.
I decided to let it go and hope that I could find some at the airport on Monday, which is when I am scheduled to fly from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles.
New York state to make its own hand sanitizer
New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo (center) says the state will make hand sanitizer.
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
In the press conference, Cuomo described the sanitizer, which is now in production, as a “superior product to products now on the market.”
Though there is not yet a timetable for distribution, New York State Clean hand sanitizer will initially go the cluster of infected citizens in New Rochelle, New York. It will be manufactured by inmates at New York state correctional facilities.
Distillery-made sanitizer?
Other businesses are also stepping up to address the shortages.
I suppose if there were a nearby distillery, I might be able to get my mitts on some fancy boozey alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Sadly, I don’t live in Atlanta (though many of my colleagues do) to avail myself of the Old Fourth Distillery’s special potion.
In lieu of that, I guess I’ll just hope my remaining one ounce of hand sanitizer gets me through until I can find a place to refill it.
Brekke Fletcher is executive editor of CNN Travel & Style.