Cleaning Up COVID-19

It’s a dirty job – thank goodness they do it. Though perhaps not the most glamorous work, every day Morris County remediation, disaster recovery and commercial cleaning firms perform vital functions for residents and businesses, and their work became even more essential with the COVID-19 pandemic. While continuing to provide mold inspection and removal, fire and water damage recovery and commercial cleaning services, these firms also ramped up their virus disinfectant efforts in response to the coronavirus. ​

MasterTech Environmental of Mount Arlington primarily focused on mold inspection and removal prior to COVID-19. They also provided hoarding clean-up services and trauma remediation. Yet MasterTech’s professional virus disinfectant services skyrocketed after the coronavirus crisis began. “It’s something we’ve always done but now it’s a demand item,” said Eric Green, the firm’s co-founder and owner. Green noted that his mold inspection and remediation work dropped by 95 percent with the onset of COVID-19 and now he is receiving five to 10 calls per week regarding virus disinfecting. “Half of those calls are just talking people off the ledge,” Green said. The other half turn into work, such as homeowners and businesses asking for disinfecting services following someone testing positive for the virus. While 75 percent of MasterTech’s work was residential prior to COVID-19, a good portion now is commercial, such as offices, warehouses, manufacturers and, of course, health care facilities. Previously the firm performed between 200 and 225 jobs per year. “The COVID-19 cleanup jobs are a little bit more of an emergency so we can do two to three of those a day,” Green said. 

Jan-Pro of Northern New Jersey in Fairfield also has seen a spike in coronavirus-related work. Jan-Pro is a commercial cleaning service comprising 72 individual franchises. They provide a variety of commercial cleaning services to a wide array of business sectors. “Our most popular service right now is our EnviroShield,” said Jessica Ryan, vice president, who noted that demand for regular cleaning services dropped by 40 percent while they experienced a 600 percent increase in demand for the registered EnviroShield service the first month after the coronavirus hit the state. “This is the most efficient way to spray a disinfectant spray.” Jan-Pro offers businesses three disinfecting options: one following CDC guidelines for cleaning using high-grade disinfectants; the EnviroShield option, which eliminates 99.9 percent of bacteria and viruses on every exposed surface in a building, according to Jan-Pro; or EnviroShield Endure, which lasts longer, Ryan said. With 15 application sprayers, Jan-Pro was well prepared for the current situation. “We processed orders for the electrostatic sprayers before this hit,” she said. “We haven’t had to turn down any requests.” ServPro of Southwest Morris County in Randolph was averaging 400-500 jobs per year prior to COVID-19, about 60 percent of that residential. The firm offers fire and water, mold and cleaning services.

“Our bread and butter, 70 percent of the time, is water and mold,” said owner Greg Bock. “The balance is mold remediation and fire damage. A small percentage is biohazard.” Beginning in March, Bock began receiving several coronavirus-related calls every day. About a third of those were from homeowners and businesses simply wanting a cleaning. “No one is diagnosed but they want a thorough cleaning of touch points, such as door knobs,” he said. The other two thirds come from homeowners and businesses where someone was tested but results had not come in or where there has been a positive test and they want a very deep cleaning. ServPro crews don full face respirators and personal protective equipment for the latter jobs, according to Bock. Similar to Jan-Pro, Bock and his crews use official ServPro products that are indicated to eradicate the virus, he said. One of the coronavirus-related jobs ServPro did in the spring entailed creating positive air flow in the room of a COVID-positive patient at a nursing home to protect the caregivers moving in and out of the space. “So we’re really in the thick of the situation,” Bock said.