Unfortunately, illness has always been a significant contributor to children being absent from school, especially during the dreaded winter flu season. But since the COVID-19 pandemic tragically hit us, pupils in the U.K. have missed over half a year of in-person education, roughly 5% of their entire time spent at school.
While it’s impossible to predict how this loss of learning will impact all of our futures, it’s more vital than ever to maintain a high level of hygiene in our youngster’s classrooms as life begins to return to normal.
Wondering where germs are found in schools so you can protect your little ones? Read on as we discuss the three dirtiest areas and how commercial cleaning companies can help banish bugs, coughs, colds, and other nasties and provide kids with a safe and tidy environment where they can focus and learn.
1. The Gymnasium
With bats, mats, bibs, and more rarely getting sanitised and being shared around for children to sweat, sneeze and splutter on, it’s no wonder P.E. equipment is one of the worst offenders for spreading viruses and infections. Plus, warm, moist gym floors and shower cubicles make brilliant breeding grounds for bacteria, resulting in children, often barefoot in these areas, picking up all sorts of unpleasant fungal infections, including athlete’s foot, warts and brittle, yellowed toenails.
2. The Computer Lab
Studies have shown that an office computer keyboard often contains 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. Now imagine what germs a school keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen must harbour as it’s used by hundreds of students, day in and day out — it makes you feel a bit queasy, doesn’t it?
That’s why it’s essential pupils are encouraged to wash their hands with soap and water regularly and not to eat while working on computers as this is how they transmit the bacteria that makes them sick to their mouths — not to mention all the crumbs that get sprinkled everywhere.
3. The Classroom
Research conducted by Yale University discovered that school desks are another particularly disgusting hotspot for bacteria and fungi, most of which originates from children’s skin, mouths and gut. That’s right — nearly every sample taken from the desks where kids spend most of their day working showed microbial concentrations from faecal matter. No wonder they’re often complaining about tummy aches!
Also, shared equipment like pencils, crayons, papers, books, and germiest of all, plush toys — which are tough to clean and excellent at absorbing liquid — rank top of the class for spreading disease-causing organisms.
How Does Professional Cleaning Reduce Illnesses?
Although coughing and sneezing into disposable tissues and encouraging thorough hand washing after using the toilet and before eating helps slow the spread of infections, the problem with germs and bacteria is they continually reinvent themselves to outsmart antibiotics and resist the development of vaccines.
The only way to truly combat viruses is by hiring a qualified crew of cleaning professionals trained in the latest techniques and equipped with the best tools. These hygiene experts use specialised disinfectants, colour-coded microfiber cleaning cloths and robust floor and carpet cleaning products to eradicate dangerous microbes through daily caretaking or deep cleans during the holidays, so all facilities are sparkling upon the children’s return.
