Image Credit: Adam Donnelly / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

SCHOOL CLEANING IMPROVEMENTS

School District 73 bringing in electrostatic spray technology for sanitization routines

Oct 28, 2020 | 4:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — School District 73 is stepping up its cleaning technology to limit the spread of COVID-19 — with a fleet of electrostatic sprayers on the way.

The equipment does have a slight Ghostbusters look, but the technology delivers serious results. District Operations Manager Allen Blohm says it adds a negative charge to the disinfectant as it is sprayed, which makes it cling to all surfaces and slows the evaporation.

“Most disinfectants say you need a 10 minutes wet dwell time to be 100 per cent effective. And with the electrostatic sprayers, we get that.”

The shipment arrives in the next few weeks and the sprayers will be used nightly on common contact surfaces such as desks and chairs. Should an outbreak ever occur, the entire affected building would be disinfected top to bottom in a manner of hours.

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In fact, Blohm says staff conducted a test run at NorKam earlier in October and were able to sanitize the classrooms, desks, chairs, walls, and everything else within the building in eight hours.

“They’ll be able to sanitize the room in three-to-five minutes instead of 10-to-15 minutes.”

The 57 sprayers come at a cost of $123,000 but are covered through the Supporting Safe Back to School funds from the federal government. Each school will get one unit, with two units provided to larger high schools for the daily cleaning. Blohm says staff have been working hard to keep up with the increased cleaning demand the pandemic brought and the new equipment will be a welcome change.

“Right now, we’re managing that mechanically with trigger sprayers, rags — and it is exhausting work for the crews,” he notes. “They’ve been managing it and I’m so proud of them, but this will actually speed up the process.”

To date there have been no confirmed cases within the district student body, but District 73 Superintendent Terry Sullivan says an infection at some point is almost inevitable.

“What happens in schools is proportional to what’s going on in the community,” he explains. “If we start seeing increases in cases in the community, then it’s likely we’re going to see cases in schools. We have a plan in place if that happens.”

On top of the enhanced cleaning practices, Sullivan stresses that the district is on board with mask expectations and says staff are doing what they can to encourage the practice.

“We’ve got some challenges on buses where students don’t want to wear them on buses. So that’s been a challenge for us.” he notes. “And we’ve had a challenge with visitors who come to schools and don’t want to wear them. We can’t really issue a directive with respect to it, but we’re hoping people will respect that. If you’re visiting a school, wear a mask.”