Apartment associations get proactive on testing, vaccination

Bangalore Apartments’ Federation, an umbrella organisation of 932 associations, working with private hospitals and BBMP

April 13, 2021 07:51 am | Updated 07:51 am IST

A man getting the vaccine at K C General hospital in Bengaluru.

A man getting the vaccine at K C General hospital in Bengaluru.

As the number of COVID-19 cases witnesses a steady rise, apartment associations have been proactively taking measures to tackle the second wave, including organising testing and vaccination camps in their premises.

Anjali Menon, president of Aristocrat Apartments’ Association in Kasturinagar, said that most of the residents who had tested positive were primary contacts of those who had COVID-19. “There has been no case of community transmission within the apartment complex. We are doing what we can at the micro level to limit the exposure of our residents by requesting them to curtail their movement, apart from ensuring COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and other protocols are adhered to,” she said.

R. Rajagopalan, association member of L&T South City in Arakere, said residents of the community of 1,998 flats are not allowed to sit on benches in open spaces, let alone congregate. “Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have restricted the number of people using passenger lifts at a time to two, and service lifts to three. However, following the second wave, people’s movements have reduced drastically. We have now tied up with HOPCOMS to have a mobile kiosk selling fruits and vegetables twice a week,” he said.

Ajay Ramachandran from the association of Tata Aquila Heights, an apartment complex in Jalahalli, said that the association was coordinating with a private hospital for vaccination of all eligible housekeeping staff and security personnel. “While we cannot control or restrict residents from going to work or travelling, we do have some control over the service staff, who are also vulnerable as they move across the community. The best defence now is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible,” he said.

The Bangalore Apartments’ Federation, an umbrella organisation of 932 associations in the city, has been working with private hospitals and the BBMP to organise testing camps and vaccination session sites. Vikram Rai from BAF said the campaign for testing and vaccination camps started a week ago.

“For testing camps, we are coordinating with the BBMP. We have mapped private hospitals and are pairing them with various apartments. While close to 100 associations have requested vaccination camps, as many as 52 have requested testing camps. This is important for not just early detection, but also the right kind of intervention,” he said.

BAF had sought data from member associations on the number of active cases in the respective communities. “According to responses received from around 105 associations, there are 380 cases in 25,000 flats. This indicates a case density of 1.5 cases per 100 households in apartment complexes,” he said and added that BAF was encouraging members to provide data on case load in their respective communities.

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