Mariam Matti
By: Mariam Matti
TORONTO -- Living in a condo or apartment building with shared facilities and tight spaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic presents its own set of challenges. 
While health officials are telling the public to stay two metres away from each other to curb the spread of the virus, how does one successfully do that in a 25-storey condo building with hundreds of tenants using the same elevators? 
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s University Health Network, said the key to protecting yourself is washing your hands. 
Rela       “We know the virus can be transmitted through what we call droplets and through contact,”                  he told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday. “If someone coughs in an elevator, and as                               disgusting and rude as this sounds, directly in your face, you can get [COVID-19] that way.” 
However, he said a more likely way of contracting the virus is if someone touches a common surface contaminated with droplets. 
“If you touch the elevator buttons and rub your eyes or touch your mouth or nose, then you could get it that way. So hand hygiene is key,” he said. 
ELEVATOR ETIQUETTE
Jessie Paul, a registered nurse in Toronto, posted a video on Facebook last week sharing tips on elevator etiquette based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. 
“I noticed that most of the tenants in my building were doing a good job of keeping distance until we’d all get on the elevator together and I realized we needed a bit of education,” the mother of two, who is currently on maternity leave, told CTVNews.ca. 
In her video, Paul tells people to push an elevator button with a napkin, the sleeve of their shirt or their elbow. 
The CDC recommends disinfecting high-touch surfaces every 24 hours. “If you want to be kind, feel free to do that in your building or ask management to do so,” she said. 
If the elevator is really crowded, don’t get in, said Paul. But if you’re already in the elevator and people get on, “the best thing to do is to create a barrier from any droplets that could be in the air.” She recommends using a scarf to cover your mouth. 
If you have children with you, Paul said it’s best to put them in a stroller to prevent them from touching surfaces. 
For Paul, it helps her to assume “everything out there is infected” when she leaves her apartment. 
“So if I use the elevator, I have sanitizer on me or when I get home I immediately wash my hands and sanitize my phone,” she said. 
For Toronto condo resident Dan Whidden, his concern stems from the shared garbage disposal area on his floor. He wears gloves as a precaution when he leaves his unit for necessities. 
The gym, pool, party room and movie theatre in his building have all closed, a measure most condo buildings have taken. 
Whidden said he feels safe in his building where they’ve ramped up cleaning of elevator buttons and other commonly touched surfaces. 
“We also got an email from the property manager who said they have a task force in place for anyone who is diagnosed with COVID-19 or gets ill and isn’t able to get groceries or supplies for themselves,” he said in a phone interview on Friday. 
The content creator and writer, who normally works from home, hasn’t felt a disruption to his weekday routine, but it’s the weekends where he feels “cooped up.” So he’s been keeping in touch with friends through online gaming and video apps. 
WHAT MEASURES ARE CONDOS TAKING?
What measures are condos taking to keep residents safe? 
Lyndsey McNally, the director of the Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI-N) for Toronto, told CTVNews.ca that the staff normally in charge of maintaining the pools and gyms have now been redirected to disinfect commonly touched areas throughout buildings. 
“Toronto Public Health provided a fact sheet specific to multi-residential environments and that’s being reviewed by building staff to make sure the additional protocols are being done,” she said in a phone interview on Friday. 
Additionally, McNally said that it’s “been agreed in the industry that unit access, unless there’s an emergency, shouldn't be done in this environment.” 
“Our role has really shifted from maintenance and repair of the property to additional sanitization as well as communication to try and make sure residents have the right information to protect themselves,” she added. 
John Dickie, the president of the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA), also noted that they’ve postponed non-essential repairs and inspections in an effort to reduce entering tenants’ units and risking transmission of the virus. 
Despite communication about physical distancing and hand washing, there will be some tenants who fall into the category of not taking it seriously, said Dickie, who also works as the chair of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization (EOLO). 
Dickie said he is working on language that landlords can use with tenants “who are not playing their part.” 
“There will be two sets of language, one that would be gentle language,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. “And then there will be more hard hitting language.” 
It’s a tricky balance because he doesn’t want to cause anxiety, but at the same time he wants tenants to be aware of the heightened risk factors of sharing a building, he said. 

By Jason Reid
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Boards and property managers of condominiums in Ontario play a significant role in protecting residents and building staff, ensuring the continuity of operations within their buildings during emergencies like the COVID-19 outbreak. Quite simply, residential buildings can take some very simple steps based on evidence and best practices, from trustworthy sources to assisting Ontario’s objectives—in slowing the spread. That is it.
Proactive property management firms are already equipped with a business continuity plan—and some with pandemic plans—to ensure they are prepared and resilient within their building operations and also protecting their family of residents. A major component within these plans is defining the role boards and managers play in preventing the spread of COVID-19, preparedness in case of related illness within their buildings, and mitigation and response to the respiratory virus that has impacted thousands worldwide, including the rising number of cases in Canada.
Condo managers should be working with their boards to consider the action items listed below. In addition, leadership at a property management company should also consider these items to ensure their own business continuity considerations.
Have a reliable source of COVID-19 informationYour leadership team should know the direct and indirect risks and impacts of COVID-19 on an individual building basis and as an organization as a whole. Your organization should have already completed a risk assessment with continuity plans updated and corporation action items prioritized as the situation changes. To ensure the most effective plans are in place, use trusted sources for information, including government websites dedicated to COVID-19 updates and public health departments. Assign a single role within the organization to maintain and monitor this information, ensuring timely updates to the leadership team.
Have a robust internal communications planBy now, property management organizations have issued communications to their employees. Employees want and need to know that their organization is up to date on the outbreak and taking steps to prepare, mitigate and respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Ensure your organization has a clear internal communications plan that includes updating employees daily or more frequently, if need be, about COVID-19 and its effects on operations. Effective internal communications provide employees with peace of mind and eliminate the rumour mill at work.
Internal employee communications should remind everyone that you’re monitoring the status of COVID-19 internationally and locally, updating employee safety practices related to COVID-19. This includes reminders about the importance of handwashing and providing other relevant information related to the company’s response. Customer communications are often a focus, but employee communications are just as vital for a healthy workplace.
Know everyone’s role in the COVID-19 crisisEvery business unit within your property management organization, from human resources to accounting, has a role in both business continuity and pandemic planning. It’s essential to have every department at the table when planning and modifying operations in response to COVID- 19. Each unit also has their own unique risks and impacts to consider. For example, security staff who administer first aid or respond to other medical emergencies within your building will need proper personal protective equipment for themselves and the residents they are assisting. Therefore, updates on procedures when responding to such calls are necessary.


Cleanliness keeps everyone safeIncreasing the cleaning of touch points is one of the most basic steps to follow. These are points within a common area that are handled or touched frequently; for example, lobby door handles and elevator buttons. Cleaning staff should spend additional time and care ensuring these areas are sanitized several times a day. During a health crisis, this is the minimum standard of care. Shared workstations such as security desks should receive extra attention, including phones, keyboards, computer mice, communication tools and devices. All should be cleaned regularly to avoid the spread of germs. Cleaning supplies and tools should be distributed to workers to use themselves.
Keep essential supplies well-stockedYour residential building relies on consumables and supplies to run the common areas of your building. Always ensure you have a minimum of two months of consumables and essential supplies on hand and re-stock them monthly. This was the practice during the SARS outbreak in 2003, ensuring building staff always had what they needed to keep everyone safe and bolster the resilience of their people and operations.


Know what your service providers are doing in response to COVID-19Connect with service providers, including security, fire safety, electrical, HVAC and waste management, to discuss their responsibilities and ensure they have established and updated business continuity plans and procedures. Many smaller service providers may not have a pandemic plan or business continuity plan. Remind your service providers and trades, with ongoing service contracts, about their responsibility for employee safety and the requirements of their contractual obligations, to guarantee your building services aren’t interrupted. Ask for a written confirmation and work with your service providers to make sure your objectives are met.
 Here is a sample notification to trades and service providers.Keep the channels of communication open with residentsBy now, there should be two types of communications issued to all residents within your building.
First, hand washing signage should be posted in common washrooms and mixed-use amenities. Such signage is inexpensive but provides a high return on resident and public safety.
Second, ensure residents know that you, as the manager, are aware of COVID-19, its status internationally and locally, and that you are taking steps to minimize the risk and impact to both the building and residents. This is their home and they deserve this reassurance. Your residents will be comforted in knowing that you acknowledge the concern, have taken steps to prepare and/or mitigate risk, and understand what those basic steps are.
 Here is a sample resident/condo owner notificationJason Reid is the senior adviser for National Life Safety Group, which specializes in fire, safety and emergency management. He has worked with international embassies, government, public and private sector critical infrastructure facilities; commercial/residential high-rise buildings; world class shopping centres and mass assembly facilities. He is also recognized throughout Canada for innovative best practices in the fire service and property/facility management industry, in achieving unprecedented due diligence in support of legal compliance and best practice emergency planning – protecting people, assets, reputation and the bottom line. He can be reached at: [email protected] Main: 647-794-5505 Toll Free: 1-877-751-0508 www.nationallifesafetygroup.ca