Ellis has just completed a successful administration of its second decontamination/disinfecting project in an occupied office (bank) environment. In both of these cases, the branches were both temporarily closed following an employee testing positive for COVID-19.

In the interest of health and safety, both clients elected to pursue an active branch cleaning effort – one that would provide their occupants with scientific documentation that facility disinfection was monitored and performed by licensed professionals.

An abatement contractor was retained to do a Level III COVID-19 Cleaning (Confirmed Exposure) which includes:

• Cleaning of “touchpoints” throughout the designated areas. Touch points are those areas where building occupants commonly place their hands; i.e. door knobs/handles, door push plates, chairs, rails, elevator rails/operating panels, vending machine buttons, telephones, keyboards and mouse, desks, countertops, trash bins, drawers, pen holders, light switches, printers, computer buttons,  kitchen and break room tables, restroom facilities, flush handles, soap dispensers, faucet controls, paper towel dispensers, toilet seats, etc.
• An approved disinfectant, Decon 30, was applied to all “touch points” in the designated cleaning areas. The manufacture recommended “dwell time” of 10 minutes was used prior to the wiping of the surfaces. After the appropriate dwell time, disposable cloths were used to wipe the surfaces. Each cloth was used only once and placed in biohazard bags for appropriated disposal.
• Non-porous floors were cleaned using Decon 30 and wiped down with cloths. The carpet was disinfected and HEPA vacuumed.
• Furniture and upholstery were treated with Decon 30 and wiped down with a cloth.
• All paper products (toilet paper, business cards, paper towels, deposit envelopes, ETC) were removed from the designated areas and disposed of as biohazard waste.
• A mobile Ultra-violet light (Spectra 1000 UV Disinfection System) was used to treat each location for a period of 10 minutes.
• At the completion of the disinfecting efforts, Ellis collected swab samples from cleaned “touch points” and submitted samples to an AIHA accredited laboratory in Denver, CO. Post-abatement swab samples were collected and analyzed for bacterial/ fungal agents as surrogates to measure the effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfecting protocol.

Ellis monitored and directed each step of the disinfection efforts, and provided surface testing upon project completion. Each client received an Ellis generated monitoring report, which included photo documentation, and tabulated laboratory results from an AIHA accredited laboratory.