WILDWOOD – Extra cleaning measures taken to prevent spreading COVID-19 among municipal employees are likely to continue and be used once businesses start reopening.
Despite offices not being open to the public, municipal employees in Wildwood and Lower Township have been taking extra measures to keep equipment, vehicles, and offices sanitized.
According to Christopher D’Amico, superintendent of Wildwood Public Works, the city started alternating staff workdays, rotating police vehicles, and increasing cleaning practices.
“We are taking an aggressive approach,” D’Amico said. “The cleaning supplies have been tough to get our hands on at times, but everyone has stepped up to keep everyone healthy.”
D’Amico added that some part-time staff have been laid off; however, full-timers haven’t experienced the same.
In the offices, the same staff person will work two or three days in a row to minimize multiple people coming in contact with equipment and potentially contaminating it. Offices are cleaned several times per day and wiped down by staff, and a fogging atomizer unit is used every other night. Employees are wearing face masks, as well.
“We have plans to use the atomizers in the bathrooms on the Boardwalk when things re-open,” he noted. The effects of the solution last five days, which kills the coronavirus if it is on surfaces.
A mailbox was installed at the entranceway to City Hall, therefore residents could drop off payments and other items as necessary.
“If they need to be met, then it all happens at the door,” D’Amico added.
Deliveries are being made to the Department of Public Works garage and sanitized there.
“We are rotating police vehicles and ambulances, so there is always one set being sanitized and the other set in use,” D’Amico said.
Staff are working on and off for 14-day periods, in the event that they have come in contact with someone infected with the virus. Based on existing literature, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state the incubation period (the time from exposure to development of symptoms) of COVID-19 ranges from two to 14 days.
“We ask that employees who don’t feel well to stay home,” he said, echoing a request heard often during this pandemic. “We take temperatures and use gloves and masks.”
Additionally, the city has supported another local business, Nauti Spirits, by purchasing hand sanitizer they’ve produced. Their sanitizer production was covered in the April 29 edition of the Herald.
Lower Township Manager Jim Ridgway has said sanitation trucks, police cars, and offices are being sanitized often – daily, nightly, and multiple times during the day – by employees. Cleaning crews are working more often, as well.
At Municipal Hall, ultraviolet (UV) lights have been installed because it is believed the UV rays destroy the virus.
Multiple efforts to reach Ridgway for further details were unsuccessful.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.
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