KAILUA-KONA — Mosquito repellent has found its way back into Big Island stores — although stocks and selection are thin in some places.
Retailers have had a tough time keeping the coveted product on their shelves as the battle against dengue fever continues and about a half dozen cases are added to the tally each day. However, multiple Big Island retailers reported having at least some of the product available this week.
“We’ve been getting it in, but it runs out real fast,” said Eric Edmund, a stock clerk at KTA Super Stores in Keauhou.
The store had 11 cases of Off! Active available this week, and had also displayed repellent stickers and wristbands the outlet doesn’t normally carry.
South Kona resident Sylvia Harrington stopped by the store for a new repellent wristband on Wednesday. Located eight miles from Hookena Beach Park — which is still closed due to the outbreak — Harrington is nervous about the disease’s slow, steady march.
“I wear a band and put up mosquito punks every day,” she said.
KTA in downtown Hilo has sufficient stocks of Off! spray and mosquito coils after an earlier shortage, with new supplies arriving this week, a clerk said. The situation at the Kailua-Kona branch is similar, with 6-ounce Off! and coils in good supply, but a scarcity of other choices.
The total number of people sickened by dengue reached 122 on Wednesday. They included 93 adults, 29 children and 16 visitors. More cases have cropped up from Keauhou to the Hookena area, and new cases have appeared in Hawaiian Paradise Park, according to a recently updated map posted on the Hawaii County Civil Defense website. County and state workers have now sprayed 216 sites to try to knock down mosquitoes that may be infected with dengue.
Civil Defense, the DOH and community emergency response teams are also working to address more than 50 complaints of standing water on public property or land where contact cannot be made with the owner.
When news of the outbreak first hit the front page of Big Island newspapers, it didn’t take people long to line up for the spray. Like a lot of stores, Kmart in Kailua-Kona had only its normal supply on hand and was left short. Currently, the store has plenty of Off! Deep Woods in stock, said store manager Robert O’Meara.
“The demand has increased dramatically, among locals and definitely the tourists,” O’Meara said.
Longs Drugs also has supplies of repellent, with a clerk reporting “plenty” in stock at the Keauhou store and employees at Hilo Longs saying spray is on the shelves and more is coming. Longs stores on the Big Island will be fully stocked by the end of the week, and have ordered supplies to meet the level of demand they’re expecting, said Mike DeAngelis, spokesman for CVS, Longs’ parent company.
“We also donated 100 cases to Aloha United Way,” DeAngelis said. “There was a run, which is why we’re experiencing the shortage. It takes a container about two weeks to get to Hawaii from the mainland.”
Sports Authority in Kailua-Kona had 10 bottles of repellent and more is on order, but manager James Welsh was not sure when they would arrive. The store had a good supply of sprays, pump bottle repellent, wrist bands and other types of deterrent on hand last week, but that’s gone now, Welsh said.
Edmund said he’s been using the spray himself to stay safe.
“I don’t want to get sick and miss work,” he said. “On my days off, I would go out and pick coffee, but not anymore. I stay home and play it safe.”