TOLEDO, Ohio — It can be easy to find someone who is sick right now, whether it's COVID-19, the flu or the common cold. What could be more difficult to find is cold and flu medication.
"All of a sudden, supplies were low and demand was high and here we are with shortages," Mike Calabrese, pharmacist and owner of Erie Drugs in west Toledo, said.
Calabrese said they started to notice a higher demand a the end of October and started to run out of supplies about two weeks ago.
"As we went to replenish supplies, we found that distributors were out, from our two main distributors," he said. "Then, there's an assortment of generic distributors that try to fill in where you can't find stuff and everyone has been out."
Pharmacies and stores are left trying to keep up with what people need.
If the shelves are empty everywhere you go, Jake Goliver, an emergency room doctor at ProMedica's Russel J. Ebeid Children's Hospital, said there are still options.
"We're recommending Motrin and Tylenol," Goliver said. "If you take them at the same time it can actually work a lot better to deal with the sore throat, headaches and body aches."
He said humidifiers are also helpful this time of year. He also said dark chocolate has been proven by studies to assist in overcoming colds.
Medical professionals have recently warned of rising cases of the flu, covid and other sicknesses.
"We're definitely starting to see the uptick in COVID-19 and the flu again," Goliver said.