Campus Reopening Checklist for Students Returning to School

While campus reopenings are a good sign – a net positive for all students and higher education – let’s not look past the monumental effort that is required to ensure that campuses are adequately cleaned, disinfected, and prepared in a manner that creates a safe environment for students to live and study. 

Don’t be discouraged! Still very much in the middle of a pandemic, federal, state, and local governments are collaborating with institutions of higher education to get on the same page about reopening campuses. Curious about where to start and what to do? Read below!

Follow The Leader

Towards the end of last year, the State of California released a comprehensive 34-page guideline on campus reopening. The COVID-19 positivity rate and overall cases have obviously affected whether or not campuses have reopened, but the guideline remains the desirable standard. 

We’re lucky that, in this case (no pun intended), the best thing to do is what is required in order to reopen your campus, however small or large. Check out the PDF here for more detail.

Preventative Measures

The best way to reduce the amount of residual work that janitorial staff will have after preparing to reopen a campus is to prevent the spread of airborne viruses. As such, until almost everyone is vaccinated, the mandate on face coverings won’t be lifted, and it shouldn’t.

Until then, the final and most important step before reopening a campus will be disinfecting it. For projects this large, it’s best to hire a professional crew. What your campus janitorial staff should do before campus is reopened is create a plan to routinely disinfect high traffic areas and surfaces in ways that aren’t disruptive to faculty and student life. To account for any margins of errors, it’s also a good idea to install hand sanitizer dispensers all around campus.

Dirt & Dust Dos & Don’ts

One of the most critical reopening steps is to ensure that all indoor campus areas are sufficiently cleaned of debris such as dirt and especially dust. Airborne viruses easily attach and spread with dust, so it’s not time for janitorial staff to slack on sweeping, mopping, dusting, and otherwise thoroughly removing all debris from campus, and this brings us to another important point.

Make Your Campus More Breathable

A campus that is ready for reopening is one that is more breathable. Consider cleaning ventilation systems and replacing old air filters. If necessary, repair or replace old and faulty ventilation systems. When cleaning and disinfecting, when and where possible, it’s a good idea to open doors and windows. A well-placed area fan will help move old, stale air out, and circulate clean, fresh air. 

There is a lot more within the realm of campus reopening guidelines than can be addressed in a short blog, so we recommend reading up on official guidelines such as the one in the link above. For more ideas, a Google search will do!