Tag Archives: Sanitation

photo of a closeup of a green apple covered in water droplets with a portion of the stem showing

The NYS School Environmental Health Conference

“Unity is strength. . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” –Mattie Stepanek

What: The NYS School Environmental Health Conference is a free learning & networking opportunity for school personnel & related professionals interested in school environmental health

When: October 25, 2022, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Where: The Empire State Plaza Convention Center, 279 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY  12242

How: Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nys-school-environmental-health-conference-2022-tickets-338999204747

Disinfectants Safety

Here’s an update on disinfectant use in schools from our colleagues over at the Cornell Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP). Thank you to Mary Centrella, PMEP Director and Educator, for putting it together.

As more people become vaccinated and things begin to open again, it is essential that we continue to use disinfectants correctly.Man wearing a mask, goggles, and rubber gloves wiping a table with a white cloth

Before using a disinfectant:

Assess whether it is necessary. Could soap and water be just as effective? Is the surface you are disinfectant high risk (i.e., used frequently by many people)? Be aware that recent information from the CDC shows that the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) on surfaces is considered low.

Continue reading

School IPM 2020 Conference

When it comes to student learning and achievement, the physical environment is a full partner.” – Dr. Lorraine Maxwell, Cornell University A picture of a school with a banner that says "School is Open Humans Only" with a bedbug, cockroach, tick looking at the sign. The tick is holding a mouse pull toy and the cockroach is holding a coronavirus shaped balloon. Includes the logos for NYSIPM, Cornell AgriTech, and USDA: NIFA

Another annual NYSIPM Conference is in the books and it was certainly different from what we imagined when we started planning last year. Covid-19 caused us to move the in-person gathering from April to a virtual conference in August. (Silver lining: it turns out virtual conferences are easier to get online than those we record with a video camera. You can now view the conference presentations from our YouTube channel.)  The virus also both supported and distracted from our main goal of discussing school pest issues that need community interventions to address.

As I discussed in my July post, Back to School – Humans Only!, Covid-19 is an excellent example of an issue that cannot be handled by school personnel alone. We have all been called to support the openings of schools through practicing social distancing, wearing masks, and handwashing whenever we leave our homes. As we looked at pest issues with similar community connections, examples included pests like bed bugs coming into schools on backpacks, but also wheelchairs and cockroaches coming in supplies and food packaging. Increasing communication and engaging collaborators that can help address these issues in the community preventing the introduction of pests into schools were brought up repeatedly. You can view that discussion here. Drs. Dina Fonseca and Paul Curtis also provided us with excellent examples of community members working together to manage mosquitoes and deer.

Besides influencing our conference, how else will Covid-19 impact schools from an IPM perspective? A few virus mitigation practices have direct impact on pests.

Reduced clutter

Photo of slide from conference: "Summary – NYC study Students’ perception of the school’s social learning environment is, in part, shaped by the physical quality of the school building. The social learning environment affects student attendance and subsequently academic achievement. Demographic factors play a role but school building quality remains an important contributing factor to the learning environment."

School building conditions matter in learning outcomes.

To decrease items that need to be regularly cleaned and sanitized, only required items are being kept in classrooms. The elimination of furniture and cushions, fewer books, less arts and crafts materials (or materials stored in easy to clean containers) will provide less space for pests to hide. We touched on this in the blog post, Bed Bugs in Schools – Prevention. And, as we learned in our keynote address, Healthy Environments for Learning by Dr. Lorraine Maxwell,  too much clutter can also lead to cognitive fatigue. While there is much influencing learning outcomes this year, we can hope that simplifying classrooms will help reduce pests and support learning.

Food in the classroom

There will be expanded food in classrooms as student travel within building is curtailed. Breakfast in the classroom has already proven to be challenging. This year lunch in the classroom, as well as teacher breaks, will increase the volume of food and food waste, the number of spills, and the amount of cleaning occurring throughout the school. On the School IPM Best Practices website, you can find information and resources on breakfast in the classroom.

Ventilation

To increase ventilation, windows and doors are being encouraged to be left open. Open doors leave opportunities for rodents and flying insects to enter buildings. Windows should have screens in place to exclude pests, but have screens been checked for holes or bent frames? Bobby Corrigan discussed rodent exclusion in his presentation, Identifying and Understanding the Rodent Vulnerable Areas (RVAs) of Schools: Essential for Sustainable IPM.

Sanitation

With IPM, we usually discuss cleaning more than sanitation, but Covid-19 has created a shift. (Note: this is unfortunate as this particular virus succumbs to soap and water.) We are not the experts on this issue, but have included a couple of blog posts to help provide some guidance:

The most important outcome of the conference is the message that school building matters and, indeed, as Dr. Maxwell concludes, “When it comes to student learning and achievement, the physical environment is a full partner.” And we all have a part to play.

Be sure to visit our School IPM 2020: Where We’ve Been and What’s Next webpage for information on our speakers and links to the recordings of all the presentations.

For more information on school IPM, visit our Schools and Daycare Centers webpage.

AIR QUALITY: Pest Management, when pests are too small to see

A recent EPA nationwide webinar, What Schools Need to Know: Practices and Principles for Healthy IAQ and Reducing the Spread of Viruses, focused on indoor air quality in school settings. Air quality was important before the current pandemic but is now central to the back-to-school issue.  For today’s post we’d like to share some EPA and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation resources. Some highlights: airborne disease is not the only issue. Proper surface cleaning and air filtering must be addressed. Products used to kill virus organisms are not just ‘disinfectants’, but pesticides, so their labeled directions must be followed. School buildings across the country vary widely in age, size, and management budget, making indoor air quality an important subject long before SARS Covid-19.

graphic showing pages available in the EPA air quality site

Indoor Air Quality has never been so important. In addition to its usual IAQ resources, EPA has created a specific Covid-19 webpage.

graphic shows portions of two labels of common cleaning wipes with a note to keep out of reach of children

The Label is the Law. Read the label on very common containers of disinfectant wipes!

The major takeaway from this webinar’s experts? Using a combination of tactics is crucial to success.

  • Social distancing helps because aerosol spread (coughing, sneezing) travels farther than you’d expect. Not only in the air, but particles linger on clothing and items.
  • Masks reduce the exhalation of virus, therefore reducing what’s in the air.
  • Surface cleaning of high-touch areas. Under optimum conditions, SARS CoV-2 virus can last up to three days on plastic surfaces. There are plenty of surfaces in public buildings. These FOMITES (inanimate, contaminated objects capable of transfer microbes to new hosts) are high-touch areas such as desktops, door handles, faucets, and electronic devices. Always consult a trusted list of disinfecting products and read the label. How the product is applied is just as important. Foggers generally do not leave surfaces wet long enough (20 mins is optimum) to kill virus. CLEANING cloths should not be reused from site to site. Use clean, sterile cloths for cleaning so you are not moving microbes from place to place instead of destroying them. NOTE:  while the CDC has a list of effective disinfectants, we recommend that you PLEASE CHOOSE from this list compiled specifically for use in New York State: https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/covid19.pdf
  • Hand washing- often and done with care. Emphasize this after toilet use. (This virus also spreads through feces.)
  • Air movement. This is not just the use of a fan. Fans recycle the same air around the room. Air movement must include dilution of indoor air with outdoor air as much as possible before, during, and after rooms are occupied. The addition of air filters (properly maintained) such as HEPA filters is highly suggested. HEPA means ‘high efficiency particulate air’ filters. Filtration reduces but can not eliminate airborne particulates.

Air quality depends on more than circulation and filtration, but on proper use of disinfectants. Improper use often induces asthma, and causes health problems. Always read the label.

We remind you that care should be taken with cleaning products used in homes and businesses, as well as schools. Fraudulent claims and risky products are out there. Visit the ABCS of School IPM blog post for more information.

school blog banner

We remind you that care should be taken with cleaning products used in homes and businesses, as well as schools. Fraudulent claims and risky products are out there. Visit the ABCS of School IPM blog post for more information.

For additional information, visit these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website:

Back to School – Keeping the Rodents Outside

We should have little trouble with vermin if builders would hear and understand the ‘language’ of vermin and do a better job in eliminating their entrances and hiding place.” – Hugo Hartnak, 1939

photo of Bobby Corrigan wearing a hard hat, holding a clipboard in one hand and a flashlight in the other pointing out a rusted wall grid plate with a hole large enough for a rat to fit through.

For Bobby Corrigan, pest management is a passion. Called upon for his expertise across the country, we are honored to include him in our conference.

Pests enter school buildings in one of two ways: they are transported in by students, staff, or delivery truck or they make their way in from the outside. The School IPM 2020: Where We’ve Been and What’s Next virtual conference will focus on the first mode, but we will also include information on the second with tips, and a tool, to help with exclusion – or keeping pests out of buildings. Dr. Bobby Corrigan, co-founder of the first Scientific Coalition on Pest Exclusion, will join us to discuss rodent vulnerable areas.

All conference participants that complete the pre- and post-tests and evaluation will be mailed a Frye Inspection Tool (FIT tool). This simple probe can be used to demonstrate if a rodent can squeeze under a gap or through a round opening. By design, if the probe ‘FITs,’ so too can the specified rodent. This tool can be used to educate decision makers about rodent entry points and help justify pest exclusion.

picture of a F.I.T. tool, a probe with two different sized ends and demarcations to measure gnaw mark and dropping size.

A F.I.T. tool allows you to assess potential rodent entryways and identify whether gnaw marks and droppings were caused by rats or mice.

The measurement specs for the FIT are based on the size of adult rodent skulls. If a rodent can fit its head under a gap or through an opening, they are able to wiggle their body through (watch video Mouse Entry Points to see a mouse in action). The FIT can also be used to help differentiate rodent evidence (both gnaw marks and droppings) between rats and mice.

Signing up as a school district? We will mail enough FIT tools to cover all the participants from your district, so be sure to provide information for them all.A picture of a school with a banner that says "School is Open Humans Only" with a bedbug, cockroach, tick looking at the sign. The tick is holding a mouse pull toy and the cockroach is holding a coronavirus shaped balloon.

For the full agenda, registration, and pesticide recertification credit information, please visit https://nysipm.cornell.edu/resources/nys-ipm-conferences/school-ipm-2020-where-weve-been-and-whats-next/.