CMM Weekly News Recap-December 13, 2019

Germs—you can’t escape them, whether you’re at work, school, or play. Top news stories this week detailed how widespread disease-causing pathogens can flourish at every facility and how professionals strive to eliminate them.

First, let’s take the workplace. A survey from a facilities management provider in the United Kingdom found that an increase of employee sick days may be tied to the cleanliness of their offices. Some findings included:

• Only 35% or employees surveyed reported their desk was cleaned daily, either by themselves or a professional cleaner
• 39% said they were satisfied with the cleanliness of their workplace toilets
• 38% believed their office kitchen was clean enough.

The situation doesn’t get much better at schools, where high populations in close contact facilitate the spread of germs. Several cases of adenovirus have been reported at University of Wisconsin’s campuses in Madison, La Crosse, and Oshkosh. Students have been told to wash their hands frequently after university officials confirmed at least three cases of the highly contagious virus. It is likely there are more cases as some symptoms of adenovirus, such as a sore throat and runny nose, are often mistaken for a cold. More serious symptoms include severe respiratory illness, pink eye, and gastroenteritis. The virus has been known to result in death in people with weakened immune systems as it can cause pneumonia and organ failure.

You aren’t safe shopping, either. A hospital board in Wales is recommending that people wash their hands with soap and water following shopping trips, after 75 hospital patients came down with norovirus over a two-week period. A study by an online retailer found that three-quarters of supermarket carts across a range of stores in the United Kingdom contained harmful bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella. No doubt shopping carts in the United States are just as germy.

If all this news of germs make you want to escape, perhaps take in a show, you won’t want to know about the typical debris littering movie screens: popcorn, soda, spit balls, even a dirty diaper. The good news is many movie theater owners are now hiring professionals to clean their screens. One professional is known around the world for his patented technique in cleaning IMAX screens. So now you just have to worry about germs on the seats…

Have a good weekend, and wherever your travels take you, be sure to wash your hands afterward.