Pandemic spring cleaning

By Mat Cohen and Daniel Patton

Spring cleaning comes every year, but with the addition of Illinois’ stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone in Chicago has extra time to take precautionary health measures. Local organizations and businesses are taking extra steps alongside residents to start fresh as summer begins to roll around.

The Chicago Transit Authority

The CTA has created a new “Coronavirus Info” page on its website detailing their response to the current health crisis.

Daily procedures for CTA train stations include cleaning and disinfecting fare gates, turnstiles, Ventra machines, escalator handrails and elevator panels.

The daily schedule for buses and trains includes cleaning and disinfecting seats, straps, handrails and fare boxes. The vehicles also undergo routine deep cleans that include intensive floor scrubbing.

The Chicago Loop Alliance

Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA) and Power Washing Systems took to the streets March 25 to wash sidewalks, trashcans and any other public structures from Ida B. Wells Drive to Wacker Drive.

In a news release from CLA, Bill Mologousis, president of Pressure Washing Systems, said the company is taking extra measures for everyone’s safety.

“We’re not just allowing this wastewater that’s generated from these cleaning operations to enter the storm sewer system and maybe create an environmental impact,”Mologousis said. “Anyone can pressure wash this into the sewer, not many companies have equipment that will prevent it from going into the sewer system.”

CLA will team up with Pressure Washing Systems to clean and disinfect sidewalks, trashcans, and other infrastructure each week in the Loop. The process will use a quaternary disinfectant cleaner called QuatSan, which is “effective at killing a variety of bacteria and viruses, includingCOVID-19,” according to a news release.

McHugh Construction

The company responsible for raising Vista Tower 1,200 feet into the air is “still working,” according to a recent post on its Facebook page.

Construction is among the categories that are exempt from Governor Pritzker’s March 20 stay-at-home order.

But McHugh is also “taking significant steps to ensure we are extra vigilant as the situation involving coronavirus continues to rapidly evolve,” the post continued. Among them: requiring employees who have a house member that is sick with respiratory illness to stay home, limiting business travel and large gatherings, allowing employees to work from home, and monitoring supply chains and CDC guidelines.

Local Residents

On the residential side, Mission 2 Organize and Organizing With You are professional companies that offer many different services, including virtual sessions to help people de-clutter and organize.

Mission 2 Organize

Schae Lewis and Bahar Partow founded Mission 2 Organize a decade ago after reassessing their own lives and deciding they’d rather work for themselves. As the business took off, the duo quickly realized they were getting five-star Yelp reviews and adding value to people’s lives.

Pooja Gugnani shared a similar experience when she founded Organizing With You.

“I noticed I was helping people to get organized and I felt like I could add value,”Gugnani said. “I decided to look in to setting up a business.”

Organizing With You

Organizing With You has just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It offers reorganization in any area of the home or business and helps with time manage mentor relocation. The company also offers customized virtual organizing, a process that begins with clients walking Gugnani through their space while she develops a maintenance plan.

Gugnani said that in Chicago, where space is limited, it’s important to stay clean and organized to help with mental clarity, especially after a big life event or the new stay-at-home order.

“It will increase mental and physical well-being,” she explained. “After a death or a divorce it can truly help, it can save a lot of time and help with mental challenges.”

Visit mission2organize.com and organizingwithyou.com for more information.

Organizing With You is offering a first-time client special in honor of its 10-yearanniversary.

You can also visit Mission 2Organize’s blog with many helpful tips at mission2organize.com/blog.