Female hands using hand sanitizer gel pump dispenser

Earlier this week, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention said its essentially a certainty that some form of coronavirus outbreak will eventually occur in the United States. It appears Americans were already thinking as much well before the CDC made this prediction.

The growing concern over the coronavirus spreading in the United States has helped to drive considerable surges in hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes sales in the last few weeks, reports Adweek.

Citing data collected by market intelligence company SimilarWeb, the report says that U.S. online searches for liquid hand sanitizer were 23 percent higher in January than the average had been over the previous 12 months. Searches for disinfectant wipes were up in January, too — rising 14 percent above the average.

Market research firm Rakuten Intelligence had similar findings. According to Adweek, Rakuten Intelligence discovered a 202 percent increase in liquid hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes sales (in terms of U.S. dollars) between January 2019 and January 2020.

The coronavirus is obviously a worldwide concern and the interest in hand sanitizer reflects these worries. SimilarWeb also discovered that searches for “hand sanitizer” increased by 87 percent in January compared to the monthly average over the past 12 months. Searches for “disinfectant wipes,” rose 38 percent above the 12 month average.

To read the rest of Adweek's report, click here.