By now, everyone is either resigned to them or tired of them. The “them” is filtering facepieces, masks, scarves, neck gaiters, respirators, and other face coverings. 

Last year, Paul Davis of Greater St. Paul and Minneapolis worked on a major fire damage restoration project for a senior living (age 55+) condominium association community. In addition to the regular challenges of a large loss fire job – from mitigation through reconstruction - the project presented additional difficulties posed by COVID-19, as the residents were considered high risk.

Not all sanitizing training and certifications are equal. Some training providers cover just technical training and issue a certificate of completion, leaving the student to figure out the business end all on their own with no ongoing support. 

This R&R Q&A features a topic that’s gotten even more popular since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: duct cleaning. Today, extensive cleaning and disinfection services often include the HVAC system, which has prompted some restoration contractors to add duct cleaning as an additional service.

Take an unattended death, resulting in advanced human decomposition, add cross contamination from first responders and throw in cross bio-contamination from vectors creating fomites. Sprinkle in a dog, who has to eat, and just for good measure, throw in a family who is under duress and not happy with the two previous service providers. 

One of the challenges in making predictions is being blindsided by items you could never have seen coming. Before last year, imagine someone telling you the country would be shut down for months, you could not go to a restaurant or church service for months, college basketball would stop the week before March Madness, and most schools would be closed for months (or in some cases, a year).