UTAH SCHOOL SYSTEM:

Along with examining their cleaning procedures, school custodians and service providers needed to determine if their supplies and equipment were up to the task of pandemic cleaning. SSC service providers are using the same cleaning products they used pre-pandemic, but they switched from cleaning with spray bottles and cloths to more frequent use of electrostatic sprayers.

“We added almost 2,000 electrostatic sprayers to our equipment line for this school year, which is double the amount we had before,” Ferriell said. “With electrostatic cleaning you can cover a larger area in a shorter period of time, which is helpful when you are increasing your cleaning frequencies.”

The Davis School District, Salt Lake City School District, and Elk Grove Unified School District are all staying with their tried-and-true green products. “We don’t want to go so severe in protecting from COVID-19 that we affect kids with respiratory issues such as asthma,” said Cragun.

“Green cleaning is still effective. The cleaners we use are on the EPA N list as effective against the coronavirus,” said Brewer. “I’ve heard how other districts have abandoned their green cleaners because of the pandemic and they had to retrain their custodial staff.”

The Davis and Salt Lake City districts have been using electrostatic sprayers in all of their of schools for several years, and the Elk Grove district has introduced the technology to some of its schools and will continue to expand their use.

Custodians at Elk Grove traditionally used hydrogen peroxide but six years ago the district transitioned half of its schools to hypochlorous acid that it generates onsite, Almeida said. The district recently committed to switching all of its schools to aqueous ozone, which it also will generate onsite.

The Salt Lake City district custodians also generate their own hypochlorous acid cleaning solution onsite, which has helped them avoid shortages in the supply chain.

“We had zero supply issues, we stayed green, and we stayed with our game plan,” said Brewer. “We had a good plan in place before the pandemic; all we had to do was make minor adjustments.”