Campus deep cleaning plans move forward

When dealing with unprecedented circumstances like a global pandemic, assembling the right team to address it is critically important. That’s why OVCAS Facilities Management (FM) brought in an outside vendor that specializes in disaster recovery at the beginning of the pandemic to assist with mitigating the spread of the virus.

FM has engaged the company to sanitize and disinfect areas where known COVID-19 cases were present. It has disinfected areas in the UI hospital, police station, transportation, grounds department and various other locations around campus. It uses Environmental Protection Agency-approved disinfectants and follows Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 guidance and best practices for infection prevention and control.

The company has also supplied FM with additional labor to supplement the building service staff that are assigned to the hospital. As COVID-19 was peaking, it assigned as many as 25 people at times to maintain hospital cleaning.

According to FM Executive Director Clarence Bridges, FM will continue to access the vendor’s services to ensure and maintain a safe and healthy environment when the fall semester begins.

“Their response time has been exceptional, and we will routinely bring them in to perform deep cleaning in high-use areas of the campus,” Bridges said. “They will also continue to deep clean, sanitize and disinfect areas where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been identified.”

If you have questions or need more information about campus deep cleaning, please email servdesk@uic.edu.