Business Is Booming For Miami Company That Cleans Medical Facilities
Business Is Booming For Miami Company That Cleans Medical Facilities
Antonio Martinez has a cleaning franchise in Florida, and because of the pandemic he is much busier than usual. While is family is worried about him, Martinez says he has to go to work.
NOEL KING, HOST:
Some of the most essential workers right now are people who literally confront the coronavirus when they sanitize public spaces. Antonio Martinez (ph) has a franchise with the cleaning company Anago. He's been running his business in Miami for 13 years. He says he has a lot of clients.
ANTONIO MARTINEZ: Medical facilities, doctor office, regular office - I have a car dealer, a hotel, exterminators (laughter).
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
He normally visits sites during the day and trains his employees how to clean properly. His business is doing way more deep cleaning than ever before.
MARTINEZ: It's crazy (laughter). Everybody wants their desk, their doors, the elevators, their handles, the refrigerator - everything that everybody touch on a daily basis, they want everything disinfected, which is not common.
KING: Because Martinez cleans medical facilities, he already had the masks and the gloves. But as COVID-19 spread, he went to hardware stores and bought full-body suits for extra protection. And he's told his employees - if you're not wearing PPE, don't work. They get paid hourly, and now what they're doing takes twice as long.
MARTINEZ: People think that disinfecting is just taking, like, a Lysol wipe and clean the surface. It doesn't work like that. You need to spray the entire office. You wait between a minute to two minutes for the chemical to kill the germ, and then you wipe it down. That's the way it's supposed to be done.
GREENE: Antonio Martinez is 49 years old. He has two children. And his family is worried about him.
MARTINEZ: Especially my wife - don't go; be careful. But I have to go. I'm like a captain of any ship, and I want my employees to see that I'm there for them, for our customers.
GREENE: Martinez says with millions more Americans now unemployed, he and his colleagues feel lucky to be working.
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