Wagoner County Districts Get Sanitation Spraying Backpacks

Some Wagoner County schools are being given sanitation spraying backpacks on Wednesday to help with a safer return to school plan.

These backpacks are the latest effort from the county to help take safety measures for attending school in person.

Wagoner County Emergency Management and the Oklahoma State University Extension have paired up to provide some schools with backpack sprayers for mass sanitation use. $12,000 dollars was spent on 18 backpacks that will go to Porter, Okay, Coweta, and Wagoner schools.

These sprayers can quickly sanitize classrooms and buses in only three to five minutes, making consistent sanitation possible.

Alan Parnell with the OSU extension says they are happy to help provide these safety measures.

“It’s something we could be a part of to help the community and kids and help them be safer,” Parnell says. “It will make the schools safer to put kids back there at this time.”

Wagoner County Emergency Management Assistant Director Brandon Wren says they have been trying to stay ahead of the virus with extra safety measures since March both in their schools and in their emergency response teams. He says these backpacks will be a game changer.

“This is a fogging system, you can put it in the sprayer and walk down the hallway to get the lockers, get the buses, and all the seats in a timely fashion,” Wren says. “It will cut down time in between classes they can sanitize more and be safer in the long run.”

Other various personal protective equipment materials were distributed earlier in the month as well.

The superintendents and staff will be picking up that equipment Wednesday afternoon at the Wagoner County Fairgrounds.