SAN ANTONIO – The East Central Independent School District is being proactive following the coronavirus outbreak and working with a company to disinfect buildings and buses.

The company GermBlast demonstrated how it disinfected a school bus and a classroom at East Central ISD.

“Some school districts do a really good job, like East Central, of cleaning their buses every day, and there are some that they don’t clean them at all. So we have to clean first. Of course, we have to remove all the trash and debris,” GermBlast CEO Rodney Madsen said.

Madsen said it can take between 15 and 20 minutes to clean a school bus.

“Depending on the environment, we’ll spray a hydroperoxide chemical, or we will spray isopropyl, which is an alcohol-type chemical,” Madsen said.

The company works with 150 school districts in Texas. Madsen said since the news of the COVID-19 coronavirus broke, their phones haven’t stopped ringing.

“It might be time to prepare but not time to worry,” Madsen said.

East Central ISD has been working with GermBlast for three years. The company visits the district’s buildings once a month.

The district said it will increase GermBlast’s visits over the next few months.

East Central ISD said it is keeping track of the coronavirus through the local health department, the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The district has also placed signs in schools with different messages, including reminding students to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds.

“We have hand sanitizers at every serving line, every cafeteria, here in the district. Our teachers are going to start getting disinfectant wipes more frequently,” said Brandon Oliver, director of marketing and communications at ECISD.

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