I think the wipeable cover for the keyboard is mostly an optics thing, but not really an effectiveness thing. That is, it gives the illusion of safety, but it is no safer per se than cleaning the keyboard itself. It's a lot like gloves. You can wear latex medical gloves like you see doctors wear, but that won't prevent an infection. You don't catch get infected by the corona virus by touching it and absorbing it through your skin. If you catch it by touching an infected surface, it's only because you then transfer that from your fingers/hands to your face by then touching yourself. The gloves won't affect that reality. In a computer lab, there are a lot of surfaces that kids will touch, and where a sneeze or just breathing could expel infected moisture like the tabletop, door handles, chairs (arms, the handle you use to adjust height, etc.), laptop casings, power button on the monitor (for a desktop), mouse, trackpad, etc.
If you are going to take the precaution to clean all of those surfaces between classes, then you neither save yourself time nor have any greater protection by putting a cleaned keyboard cover over the keys. If you have just one cover per device, then you will have to clean that one. If you have more than one, and you swap it for a clean one, you're still going to have to clean them sooner or later. Seems to me to be something that could increase your risk because people will get more complacent thinking that the cover somehow is protecting them when it offers effectively no protection at all really.
I'm not a doctor, so this is just my amateur opinion, but I'd stick with an alcohol solution wipe down of all high touch surfaces, everyone wear face coverings, and have kids wash their hands before and after class. Keyboard covers will just cost you money that is in limited supply, be an annoyance to most because they won't type with it often enough to get accustomed to it, create a false sense of security, and create more work because you'll have to clean the cover AND the keyboard too.
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Jeff Mao |
jeff@edmoxie.com | @jmao121
CEO and Founder | Edmoxie LLC | edmoxie.com
Education Technology Consulting services for schools and developers.
Implementation is as important as vision. Innovation does not have to be complicated, just different.
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2020 12:13
From: Noah Goldman
Subject: Disinfecting Shared Technology
Hi Everyone,
I was asked by my principal about wipeable keyboard covers. My initial reaction was "Why? Can't we just wipe the actual keyboards?" However, I did some Googling anyway and found that the CDC suggests to "Consider putting a wipeable cover on electronics." Is anyone planning to do this? I don't think that it is necessary, but am worried about the liability if we don't.
Here is the link to the CDC article.
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Noah Goldman
Technology Coach
Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School
Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2020 08:36
From: Patricia Krueger
Subject: Disinfecting Shared Technology
As we start to plan for the upcoming school year, I am looking for thoughts on how others are dealing with shared technology - We are not a 1:1 school and our teachers use laptop carts to bring technology into the classroom. How are others in this situation thinking of disinfecting the laptops between use (our carts are heavily utilized)? Similarly, desktops in a computer lab?
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Patricia Krueger
Director of Technology
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School
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