Apartment Trends Magazine April 2020 | Page 28

APARTMENT ADVOCATE NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION / NATIONAL MULTIFAMILY HOUSING COUNCIL Guidance for Dealing with the Coronavirus Situational Analysis The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring the outbreak of a novel (meaning new) coronavirus (COVID-19), which was fi rst detected in Wuhan City, China, and has since spread to 122 additional countries. With 1,323 cases of coronavirus confi rmed in the United States (through March 12, 2020), the National Apartment Association (NAA) believes it prudent for its members and affi liates to be prepared for incidents involving COVID-19 should they occur. NAA understands that affi liates, members and residents may have concerns about how apartment communities should address the virus and, in an eff ort to off er preliminary guidance and information to assist with preparations, we have compiled the following material from offi cial sources. It is important to recognize that NAA, its affi liates and individual members are not health care professionals. The CDC and other qualifi ed health offi cials should continue to be the primary source of current information and guidance. NAA is off ering general, precautionary guidance from offi cials, and also adding some common-sense guidelines for our industry in the interest of promoting a proper amount of caution at this time. Because this is a rapidly evolving situation, NAA will monitor developments and will continue eff orts to secure guidance specifi c to the operation of rental housing from health offi cials. Additionally, NAA will update our website with new information as it becomes available. Current Point of View 1. Refer most media and key stakeholder inquiries to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) resources at this time. NAA, its affi liates and individual members are not health care providers. Providing specifi c guidance (health tips) beyond general precautionary measures, is not advised. The CDC and other qualifi ed offi cials should provide this information. 2. Continue to monitor the situation, stay tuned to your local authorities and their ongoing communications and keep track of how it aff ects "higher risk" sectors such as travel/tourism, convention centers, sporting events and the like to see whether eff orts here lead to more defi nitive guidance from health offi cials. 3. If a resident is confi rmed to have or is believed to have 2019-nCoV, do not direct facilities management or maintenance staff to the apartment. Immediately notify the local health department and contact CDC for SERVICES Insurance Restoration Capital Improvements Construction Defect Repairs Roofing 720-618-5264 [email protected] SPYDERCON.COM 26 | TRENDS APRIL 2020 www.aamdhq.org