With the return of students coming back into Utica high school staff has been finding ways to fight Covid-19 from spreading around Utica and keeping students safe. One way they have been fighting this is with the Victory Electric Static Sprayer. The Victory sprayer is a device that gets carried around like a backpack but has a sprayer attached to it that shoots out a disinfectant.
“The Victory is better than a spray bottle because it can get into more spots than a spray bottle can.” Head Custodian Valerie Hogan said, “It also can hold more disinfectant than a regular and not to mention it’s comfier and easier to use”. The Victory sprayer uses a chemical disinfectant called ‘Virex’. Virex is commonly used in everyday disinfectants and in hospitals.
“A ready-to-use, quaternary-based, disinfectant,” the Virex website (www.virexdisinfectant.com) said “that provides excellent cleaning and deodorizing in one step. Bactericide, tuberculocide, virucide, fungicide.”
Teachers have been having trouble with this spray though, after school almost the whole intire school is sprayed down, and this includes classrooms and paperwork that stays out. Although Virex evaporates quickly it still leaves papers curled up.
“I’ve been told that they disinfectant dries quickly after its been sprayed, but I haven’t seen it firsthand,” teacher Stacy Smale said. “The only issue I have with it, is that it makes paper curl up. I’ve learned to adapt, though, and just place books on top of any papers in my room, such as my seating charts. It’s a small price to pay for a virus-free classroom.”
It is important that the custodians are wearing the proper equipment while spraying down the school because these chemicals are not good for your body. The custodians are equipped with surgical gloves, a mask, and eye protection to help prevent the spread of covid-19 and also from Virex getting into the body.
“It definitely isn’t the most comfortable outfit,” custodian Liliana Djonovic, “but I would much rather be equipped with the correct uniform rather than something happening to me and getting hurt.”
Many students do not know about all the work custodians have been doing around the school after class. When I asked students they were surprised and grateful for how much effort is going into cleaning the school.
“I didn’t know all the cleaning the school has been doing, especially with the sprayer backpack.” Senior Spencer Fagan said, “It really makes me comfortably and happy with how far the Utica staff has been going to keep us safe from COVID-19.”
You may be wondering how Utica can afford all these extra protections from Covid-19? Many school districts were given grants of money which was called the CARE’s act.
“It wasn’t quite enough funding for what needed to be done,” Principle Tom Lietz said, “But it certainty is incredible helpful and it made a big difference. It is the reason that school districts haven’t sunk.”

If you are interested in watching the video of the school spraying down you can find it right here