With the inconvenience and tragic loss COVID-19 caused, the El Camino College Facilities Department has remained committed to keeping the campus safe for over a year.

At El Camino College (ECC), a small team of these essential sanitation workers, facilities employees and other staff rush to help disinfect sections of the campus whenever there are new COVID-19 case reports on campus.

“We want to make sure that staff, students and faculty are safe, and that worrying about COVID isn’t a part of their experience on campus,” Patrick Grant, Division of Facilities Planning and Services and Interim Supervisor at ECC said.

Grant coordinates a daytime crew of 15 and a night crew of 30 to 40 employees charged with keeping the entire campus clean, supplied and welcoming, which includes all the classrooms, restrooms, conference rooms, offices, dining areas, gyms, science labs and the library, in addition to common areas, walkways and parking lots.

According to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office datamart, the El Camino campus was utilized by 20,494 students and 1,264 employees in fall 2020, which provided the Facilities Departments additional responsibilities at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We had to quickly educate ourselves and get trained in COVID procedures, as well as purchase special equipment and supplies,” Grant said.

The staff continues to attend weekly COVID-19 training which helps guides them in further disinfecting the campus in accordance with the prevention and remediation protocols of ECC’s Campus Reopening Safety Plan.

“Our trainings cover how to meet each new standard, utilize personal protective equipment (PPEs), and disinfect and deep clean areas frequented by a person reported to be infected,” Grant added.

The Facilities Division is also part of the multi-departmental El Camino COVID-19 Task Force that tracks infections on campus, share information and establish safety protocols, all of which are updated online in the ECC COVID-19 Information and Requirements page.

“We were fortunate enough to have secured an ample amount of equipment, disinfecting solution and PPE for our staff from the beginning of the pandemic to be able to protect and disinfect El Camino in the fight against COVID-19,” José Gutierrez, the Facilities Division’s Executive Director said.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are newly released guidance outlines on product labels for both new and old products intended to be used against COVID-19.

“[The El Camino custodial staff] have relied on new technology – including electrostatic sprayers – to more thoroughly protect the school,” Grant said.

Electrostatic Spraying is increasingly used to combat Coronavirus, Norovirus, H1N1, SARS, MRSA, Swine Flu, E. Coli, Salmonella and more, and uses a “spray gun” to shoot an electrically charged micron-particle-sized disinfectant mist onto surfaces.

“It has been quite an experience for everyone involved, but now that the staff is trained and confident, we are able to disinfect areas that have been affected as soon as we are notified,” Gutierrez said.

To determine when ECC has come into contact with the virus, Gutierrez said that the COVID-19 Task Force is notified by World Back To Work, a COVID-19 screening services consulting company and website that reports on positive cases on campus and conducts all contact tracing.

Between Aug. 22 and Sept. 9, ECC’s COVID-19 Task Force has reported that there were at least eight areas of campus frequented by 10 people who were identified as COVID positive – three students, one staff person, one faculty member and five additional people.

Araceli Palacios-Broadhead, a clerical assistant in the Academic Affairs Department for 22 years, was one of the people who received an email and a text that stated a person infected with COVID-19 had been in their office area.

“We were told to immediately work remotely, and informed that the office would be closed for deep cleaning for ten days,” Palacios-Broadhead said.

While others are required to avoid any contact with the virus, ECC’s custodial staff have run into infected areas to disinfect and deep clean despite the risk of infection. Grant caught COVID-19 at the start of 2021 and was in the hospital for five days.

“I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t walk, I had trouble breathing. I was pretty messed up. And it was much scarier being separated from my family,” Grant said.

Grant has six children ages 12 to 28 and serves as a reminder that essential workers risk a future with their loved ones to protect the ECC community. The importance of their sacrifices isn’t ignored by Palacios-Broadhead.

“I lost two immediate family members due to COVID,” Palacios-Broadhead said, “and it’s so painful. [I’m] thankful for all the facilities team did to disinfect the Academic Affairs offices.”

Palacios-Broadhead said that students, faculty and staff can honor these essential workers best by following protocols set for all our health, wearing masks, and abiding by the vaccine mandate just recently established on campus.

“I miss contact with the students. I really enjoy connecting students to resources and opportunities. It’s very rewarding,” Palacios-Broadhead said. “[If we all] do our part, we can all get back to what we love most at El Camino.”

Editors Note: Headline was adjusted for grammar and clarity on Oct. 11 at 5:46 p.m.