by Logan Meriwether, Student Reporter
A group of Northwestern employees is working behind the scenes to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
These people are the custodians. They have been working to keep students and faculty safe. They go to classrooms and bathrooms twice a day, wiping down desks, chairs and doorknobs to keep everything disinfected.
Dean Kilgore and Jeffery Lee are two custodians who are constantly on the move from building to building, keeping things clean.
Kilgore has been working on campus since 1995 and has dealt with many different things, but nothing like COVID-19, he said.
“I’ve seen many changes on campus in my 25 years working here, but now things seem to change every day,” Kilgore said.
Lee, who has worked at Northwestern for six years, cleans in the morning and at noon every day.
Lee said he stays consistently busy all day by cleaning tables, doorknobs and bathrooms, making sure they are sanitary for people to use. He also goes to residence halls one time each weekend and helps clean them.
Going from room to room and cleaning all of the doors and bathrooms in the dorms is an all-day affair, Lee said. But it is necessary to help keep the virus from spreading in the dorms, he said.
When Lee has to clean the dorms that students have been quarantined in, he uses extra precautions and makes sure he is desensitized before moving on to clean any other rooms, he said.
Kilgore and Lee are watching out for their own safety as well as the safety of students. They wear their masks at all times and wash their hands consistently to keep from spreading the virus. They are required to wear gloves at all times while cleaning, and they change their gloves after cleaning each room. The custodians are also making sure they do their part to practice social distancing.