Cleaning A College In A Pandemic: 'Without Us This Campus Shuts Down'
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4:01 am
NPR
There's a lot that is different this spring on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville. It's quieter, since coronavirus safety protocols restrict large gatherings, and the dorm common areas are often empty. But there's one thing that hasn't changed: On most weekdays, you can find Lavonda Little at Reid Hall, a four-story residential building, working as a custodian, a job she's held for the last 16 years.
"It's my everyday performance," she says, pushing her large yellow cart filled with supplies down the first floor hallway. She starts her cleaning routine in a common room on the first floor, doing the dishes in the communal kitchen. Then she gets to wiping: the tables, the door handles, the blinds, the piano; "everything that's touchable," she says.