Facilities continues to maintain campus
Just because individual off-campus homes are where the students of Delaware State University are finishing their spring semester online, faculty are teaching their classes and most other staff members are completing their work, facility and maintenance work is still being done on campus.
The University’s tradesmen, general maintenance workers and custodial technicians are continuing to do repairs, maintain buildings, and keep all work, residential and academic areas clean.
Herman Wood, Associate Vice President of Facilities Management, Planning and Construction, said although the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis has turned the University’s campus into largely a ghost town, there are still repair work orders and regular maintenance to be done.
Roof assessments for future repairs, painting and sidewalk repairs are just some of the work projects being accomplished. New landscaping is also planned, particularly around the Dr. Jerome H. Holland statue at the front of the campus.
“We have split the tradesmen and custodians into two teams, with one team alternating work weeks with the other team,” Mr. Wood said. “In a couple of cases we have switched custodians from night to day, so they can take care of the children who are not in school because of the Coronavirus crisis.”
The absence of most University activity has provided opportunities for some contract projects to be done. This week, new carpet has been installed in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, and next week the same work will be done in the Bank of America Building.
Mr. Wood said special precautions are being taken with any contractors who come on campus.
“They have to sign in and sign out, and we escort them to the site where there are working,” he said. “If we find out one of the contractors has the virus, we know where they are working.”
He added that generally the areas where they are working are currently inactive and unoccupied.
Mr. Wood said the custodians are still maintaining the buildings that are in active use, such as the Administration Building, the Mishoe Science Center, as well as the Village Apartments and the Courtyard Apartments, where students with nowhere to go continue to reside.
“We are using disinfectant to sanitize the work and residential areas where people are still working or living,” he said. “We just purchased 300 sanitizers to position around campus.”
Angelo Albarran, an HVAC technician, has been busy this week replacing filters in HVAC units around campus – and is doing so with a face mask on.
“Because I have allergies and asthma, my physician had me get tested for the Coronavirus,” Mr. Albarran said. “It came back negative, but I had to stay home for 16 days until the test came back. I just came back to work.”