Buckingham County Public Schools utilizing new ultraviolet disinfectant technology in classrooms

BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Sicknesses spread throughout schools, and Buckingham County Public Schools is rolling out some new clean UV technology in an effort to keep students healthy.

“It’s been used in hospitals since the 1950s to disinfect, and when my co-founders and I saw that, we realized we could build something that would be accessible to schools,” R-Zero co-founder Benjamin Boyer said.

R-Zero’s UV technology is used to clean up lingering infectants after completing the usual cleaning procedures.

“After they clean the room, this unit, of course it’s not magic wand and it doesn’t do all the cleaning, so the nighttime crew does the classroom cleaning, taking care of everything, and then they roll this in after and turn it on,” BCPS Director of Facilities J.B. Heslip said. “It cleared out 99.9% of everything that causes us trouble getting students here with not only Coronavirus, but the flu and cold and and all sorts of different things.”

Heslip says that since the lights were added, fewer students have had to stay home sick.

“At least one or two teachers have always said that they feel like they have less absentee rates for their students,” Heslip said.

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