Timing analysis of the sanitization process due to the COVID-19 pandemic in an elementary school using simulation

Abstract

The recent pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, forced all educational institutions in the Mexican national territory to close their doors to face-to-face classes during the month of March 2020. It was many months later, when the Ministry of Public Education announced the return to hybrid classes for the 2021-2022 school year. This represented a challenge for schools in this national territory, particularly those from primary level since all institutions must have had biosafety and disinfection protocols in order to receive all their students and safeguard their safety. For this reason, a primary school was chosen for this study and a discrete event simulation was performed;the main objective of the simulation was to analyze the time invested in the different sanitizing stations, as well as the establishment of new stations to choose the best option that can lead to a timely disinfection process that accommodates the total number of students without affecting the planned day-to-day academic activities. © 2022 The Authors.