Downtown Chicago may resemble a ghost town during much of the day, but the spread of the coronavirus makes it more important to keep it clean, according to officials from Chicago Loop Alliance. The organization of downtown businesses, contracted by the city to provide services in the district, will now disinfect State Street every week from Ida B. Wells Drive north to Wacker Drive and the river.

Its vendor, Pressure Washing Systems, began power-washing the street Wednesday evening with QuatSan, a disinfectant cleaner that follows guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and can kill a variety of bacteria and viruses including the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

“The Loop has seen 70% declines in pedestrian activity compared to this time in 2019, so we know Gov. [J.B.] Pritzker and Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot’s shelter-in-place order is being taken seriously,” CLA CEO Michael Edwards said. “But there are still essential workers on the street, and our priority is their safety.”

Crews from PWS cleaned the street surface, along with trash cans, sidewalks and other infrastructure, but the powerful disinfectant was not washed into the city sewer system.

“It’s really an environmental cleaning process,” PWS President Bill Mologousis said. “Anyone can pressure wash this into the sewer; not many companies have equipment that will prevent it from going into the sewer system.”

In addition, Chicago Loop Alliance workers that walk State Street each day shifted their focus from customer service to cleaning street furniture, newspaper racks, benches and other street fixtures, Edwards said.