Fears stoked by the spreading coronavirus have led to a shopping spree at stores in Indianapolis and across the country.

Hand sanitizer was hard — but not impossible — to find in the Indianapolis area stores IndyStar visited Thursday. There are reports of similar shortages at stores across the country as consumers stock up in fear that coronavirus may spread to their communities.

"People are just going nuts over it," said Jeremy Jones, store manager at Meijer on East Southport Road and Emerson Avenue.

It's hard to find online too. Hand sanitizer was sold out on Amazon.com Thursday, but third-party vendors were listing eight-ounce bottles of Purell for about $25 each.

When it's in stock, Meijer sells Purell for about $3 a bottle.

Jones compared the frenetic purchasing of hand sanitizer to the runs on milk, eggs and bread that often come before a big storm.

"We got some in (on Wednesday) and it didn’t make it through the day," Jones said.

Indiana has no reported cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, but state health officials say they are "closely monitoring" the outbreak.

IndyStar visited four stores on Thursday. Meijer and Target at Southport and Emerson and Needler's Downtown were sold out of hand sanitizer.

Downtown's Whole Foods had a healthy selection of hand sanitizer in scents including lavender, orange blossom and peppermint. The two-ounce bottles were priced at $3 each.

The stores all had plenty of soap in stock. The Centers for Disease Control says hand washing with soap is more effective than using hand sanitizer.

Jones said he's been noticing more shoppers stocking up on disinfectant wipes lately. He said he is bracing for another wave of buying.

"We're holding strong on wipes," Jones said. "But that might change by the weekend."

The outbreak has prompted many to wash their hands more often, cover their coughs and stay home when they don't feel well.

At the Starbucks in Camby, Shift Supervisor Tristan Olson said baristas were no longer filling reusable cups.

It's a precaution handed down by the corporate office, Olson said, aimed to help prevent the spread of coronavirus and other illnesses.

Starbucks is headquartered in Washington State, where 11 people had died of the coronavirus as of Thursday afternoon.

The ban on reusable cups applies to all Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada, a Starbucks spokesperson said in an email to IndyStar.

"This decision was made as the health and well-being of our partners and customers remains top of mind and our highest priority," the spokesperson said.

Coronavirus is a new respiratory virus first identified in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province and has infected more than 95,000 in more than 60 countries, USA Today reported.

More than 3,200 have died from the illness, primarily the elderly and those with weakened immune systems or other underlying illnesses.

There have been at least 162 confirmed cases in the U.S. Cases have been confirmed in 15 states, including Illinois and Wisconsin, according to USA Today.

Contact IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at 317-444-2701 or vic.ryckaert@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @VicRyc.