In a Lower East Side housing complex for seniors, building management has distributed hand sanitizer and canceled events in communal spaces. At a Jackson Heights co-op building, residents are looking to organize grocery and pharmacy runs for older tenants to reduce their time outside. And in Borough Park, management at one apartment building has begun regularly checking-in on seniors who live alone.
Across New York City, the managers of apartment buildings and their residents are taking steps to protect older adults, who are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus. Concerns over the spread of COVID-19 have prompted many seniors to stay home or limit their movements, and some building staff and neighbors are stepping up with their own extra precautions.
At Ridge Street Gardens, an affordable housing complex for seniors on the Lower East Side, building staff is thoroughly disinfecting entryways and passing out hand sanitizer and bleach wipes. All group outings and events in communal spaces are canceled until further notice, according to a sign posted in the building’s lobby.
“People are worried—I’ve seen people in the building wearing masks—but they’re also trying to go about their lives,” says Marie Leung, a security guard there.
At an apartment building on the western edge of Borough Park, retired grade school teacher Janet Brown, 81, says her super has begun regularly checking in on seniors who live alone and is making sure they’re stocked on hand sanitizer. Brown says she’s reducing her time outside “without becoming a hermit,” but stressed that she doesn’t want concerns about the new coronavirus to derail her daily routine.
“It has everyone on edge,” says Brown. “But as long as we’re washing our hands [and] keeping things clean, we just have to keep going and kiss it up to God.” Brown’s super, who declined to provide his name, says he and other building staff are following the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s recently released guidelines on best practices for disinfecting residential buildings and for interacting with tenants for in-unit repairs and other needs.
Residents of a Jackson Heights co-op building are also preparing to look after the building’s elderly if the outbreak worsens. Recently, a group has floated plans to the co-op board to identify older residents who live alone, assign someone to check in on them regularly, and to organize grocery and pharmacy runs for such tenants to reduce their time spent outside, according to Laura Fenton, a resident of the building (and a Curbed contributor).
Earlier this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio encouraged New Yorkers to be good neighbors, especially to seniors with preexisting conditions or mobility issues.
“Look out for your fellow New Yorkers,” de Blasio told reporters at a recent press conference. “If there’s someone who is in your apartment building or on your block who has medical challenges or a senior that has trouble getting around, check on them.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends making a community coronavirus plan. Homes should have a stockpile of nonperishable food items—FEMA recommends up to two weeks’ worth plus enough water and other supplies from medication to pet food to diapers—but even then, New Yorkers shouldn’t weather this health crisis alone. Being a responsible citizen means being there for your neighbors in times of need.
In Bay Ridge, Marilyn Morales is taking that message to heart. On visits to her 83-year-old mother, who lives alone in The Narrows apartment complex, Morales says she’s begun knocking on doors to see if she can pick up groceries or grab anything else the building’s older residents need while she’s out. Aside from loading up her mother’s pantry, she’s made grocery runs for two other tenants and has been handing out bottles of hand sanitizer that her husband bought in bulk from Costco.
“We have to do what we can to help each other,” says Morales. “Not everyone has somebody.”
Several seniors who were undaunted by the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has officially declared a pandemic, gathered at the Fort Hamilton Senior Recreation Center (run by the city’s Parks Department) this week, but there has been a sharp drop in attendees, according to staffers.
Visitors to the recreation center are greeted with FAQs on the new coronavirus and Parks Department workers are practicing the de Blasio-endorsed “elbow bump” instead of handshakes. Workers wipe down equipment and surfaces with bleach in the morning and again in the evening.
“Anything they touch, we sanitize,” says Charles Calderia, a staffer at the center.
Liza Kasper, 80, who regularly attends a yoga class at the center, said the session typically draws 20 people; on Wednesday only four people showed up. David H., 78, who visits from Brighton Beach to play Rummikub, says he’s also noticed attendance by some of the center’s regulars has dwindled.
Still, he believes as long as people take the appropriate precautionary measures, that life should go on more or less as it has. “It is something you think about, being older, but what am I going to do?” says David. “I can’t stay home forever.”
What’s your building doing to help older tenants? Send tips to caroline@curbed.com.
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