Overuse of disinfectants can put schoolchildren at risk

From pre-k schools to universities across New York and the country, classrooms this fall are fraught with unexpected risks for children, teachers and staff. In some cases, simple mistakes could be lethal.

We have followed New York’s path to safe reopenings since

Claire Barnett is executive director of the Healthy Schools Network. Kathy Curtis is executive director of Clean and Healthy New York.

the spring, as well as other states and districts across the country. Critical for schools being able to stay open is minimizing the risks for all concerned by requiring all schools to adopt consistent operational guidelines. New York health, education, and environment officials have done a credible job. They are, however, making a very serious mistake by allowing the broadcast spraying, misting and fogging of schools and buses with disinfectants. These chemicals are in fact anti-microbial pesticides.

The state’s mandates and guidance for the reopening and operations of schools and childcare centers during the pandemic include cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched hard surfaces inside facilities and on buses. Due to efforts to arrange social distancing in schools and child care centers by having half days or split sessions, these

facilities may in fact clean and apply disinfectants not just once daily, but more than twice, as buses may make multiple round trips during the day.

Since New York is a prominent leader in safer pest control for schools and for child care center buildings and grounds, and since it promotes a highly successful integrated pest management program for all state agencies, the rapid expansion of the use of anti-microbial pesticides through sprayers, misters, and foggers must be addressed before children and staff are harmed, if not disabled, by these new and potentially intense chemical exposures.

Because some schools and child care centers have already purchased these application devices, however unwisely, we strongly urge that the state quickly issue an emergency regulation that all educational facilities using or seeking to use these devices have staff trained and certified as anti-microbial pesticide applicators. The state Department of Environmental Conservation requires this for applicators of disinfectants to water systems. Training must cover the use of products approved for use in foggers and sprayers, personal protective equipment for applicators, duration of air-out times after applications, and state enforcement actions for misuses or for using disinfectants not registered for use in New York.

The case is clear. First, disinfectants as product types do not clean; disinfectants, to be effective, should only be applied to freshly cleaned surfaces, and cleaning itself removes most germs. Second, schools and childcare centers that have been vacant for a week will no longer house viable human coronaviruses, and thus not need any, let alone broadcast, disinfecting. Third, there is considerable doubt as to the efficacy of using automated equipment: The droplet or mist may not fully cover the hard surface and or may evaporate quickly, thus not meeting the product label directions for the “dwell” time needed to deactivate the virus. The result cannot guarantee effective disinfection, but it can guarantee that plenty of hazardous chemicals will linger in the indoor air.

A surface is only disinfected and clean until the next peanut butter and jelly-coated hand touches it. From that point forward, the coronavirus will land on the food residue, not the disinfectant residue.

As part of keeping our schools safe and healthy, New York must quickly control through regulations the use of all sprayers, misters and foggers of disinfectants where children learn and play.