Schools Deploy Arsenals of Sanitizers Against Swine Flu Threat

Threat Pushes Sales Up for Manufacturers

Should the swine flu appear at Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School in Germantown, a veritable arsenal of weaponry awaits.

There's a double-barreled blast of Germ-X hand sanitizer at the front desk in the main office. The soap dispensers in the bathrooms. And in Room 103, better known as Kristy Halvorsen's first-grade class, the virus faces a triple threat from more Germ-X, Purell soap and Kleenex tissues.

In their quest to fortify themselves against the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, Matsunaga and other schools across the Washington region are building up chemical stockpiles and barraging students with lessons on how to wash their hands and cough into their elbows. There haven't been any cases of H1N1 at Matsunaga, the largest elementary school in Montgomery County, and Judy K. Brubaker, its principal, would like to keep it that way.

"When I buy it, I buy it at 400 bucks a pop," Brubaker said recently while giving a tour of her school's defenses. At least twice now, she has purchased 70 40-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer.

Each classroom has multiple defenses. In Philip D'Agnese's second-grade class in a temporary trailer, there were six bottles of soap, one at each of the classroom's hotspots -- the computers, the pencil sharpener, the homework baskets -- and that wasn't counting the box of "antiviral" tissues.

The swine flu threat has been a boon for manufacturers of cleaning products.

"Clearly there's an increased demand for products like soaps and hand sanitizers, disinfectants and disinfecting wipes," said Brian Sansoni, vice president of communications at the Soap and Detergent Association, based in Washington. "One of the things we've seen with these products is they really represent preventative health care. A couple of things of hand sanitizer is a lot cheaper than a stay in the hospital and drugs."

Sales of Germ-X, for example, soared well before the school year began. During the four weeks ending Aug. 9, 335,123 units of it sold were nationwide, 23 percent more than in the same period last year, according to Information Resources, a Chicago-based market research firm. Unit sales of Sani Hands for Kids, sets of disinfectant hand wipes, doubled during the same period.

Clorox also tapped into the spirit of the times with its now-expired coupon offer to teachers, which let them get a free package of wipes.

"We expected about . . . 50[000] to 60,000 teachers to redeem the coupons, and we've had more than double that right now," said Mary O'Connell, a spokeswoman for Clorox. "We weren't sure how to manage the response. It was fairly significant the first day."

These cleaning products aren't much of an improvement over washing your hands with simple soap and water, said Artealia Gilliard, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Those things are good, but I think sometimes people rely on them too much," Gilliard said. "The truth is, the best thing is for you to wash your hands with soap and water. If your hands are visibly dirty, there's not much those hand sanitizers can do."

And all the soap and sanitizer in the world won't do much good if children don't use it. At Matsunaga, Brubaker faces an especially daunting task: The school, which she runs with the neighboring Longview School for disabled students, has an enrollment of more than 1,000. But the constant reminders to be on guard against germs and the posters of the hand-washing cartoon Henry the Hand have had an effect, teachers and parents said.

"I know that the school has been spotless," said Nancy O'Neill, a Matsunaga parent who contributed wipes and hand sanitizer to the school. "Kids have been wiping down their desks every day, washing their hands 50 times a day."

In class after class, kids showed that they had mastered the art of coughing into their elbows and not touching their eyes, nose or mouth. But the most satisfying proof came when a kindergarten-age boy and girl went their separate ways into adjoining bathrooms. Common wisdom said the girl would wash her hands, but would the boy do it without prompting?

Brubaker watched the sink from a discreet distance. The boy walked up, squirted a dollop of soap into his little hands and rinsed them under the faucet. A broad smile spread across Brubaker's face: Mission accomplished.