The Kamloops-Thompson School District will be bringing in electrostatic sprayers to all of its schools to help in the fight of COVID-19.
Operations Manager Allen Blohm says the sprayer adds a negative charge to the disinfectant which he says helps it cling to surfaces better.
“They are very beneficial for us because now we can do a one spray application [instead of two like we do with the mechanical sprayers and pump sprayers],” he said. “The drying time is 10 to 15 minutes so our disinfectant is way more effective.”
“The spray wraps around the table and clings underneath as well, not like a regular spray bottle that works using line of sight. This method allows us to fully envelop whatever is being sprayed. The spray can also be turned to very small droplets which means we can disinfect paper and other objects without damaging them.”
Blohm says SD73 will use RMC Enviro Care Neutral Disinfectant and Wood Wyant Saber Vert2Go Concentrate in the sprayers, both of which have been approved by Health Canada as products that are likely to be effective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“These will be used in the evening by the evening custodians when the buildings are empty. They won’t be doing the entire building every evening, that would be saved for if there was a COVID identified case, then the entire building would get done,” he said. “But for now, it will be the common touchpoints surfaces in the regular cleaning cycle.”
SD73 tested some of the sprayers at NorKam Senior Secondary over a weekend earlier this month, and Blohm says they were pleased with the results.
“The detail crew was able to disinfect the entire building in eight hours using these units,” he added. “This means that if we ever have to disinfect a building because there has been a confirmed case, we would be able to disinfect all surfaces in the building overnight, and we would not have to shut the school.”
In all, 57 sprayers will be delivered to the school district in a few weeks at a cost of $123,000, which will be covered by the $2.6 million in federal funding that SD73 got in September. Each school will get one sprayer, but larger schools like NorKam Secondary will get two.
“Its going to free up time for the custodians so they can still maintain their regular work. Things like floors and windows have been put to a low priority for now, so if its exceptionally messy out like it is now with rain and snow, our floors are just not going to look very good,” Blohm said. “So these electrostatic sprayers will free up that time.”
(Photos via Allen Blohm)
