How to Social Distance Your Family in an Apartment Community
If you live in an apartment home, you’re well aware of how difficult it can be to social distance from your neighbors when you’re living just a few feet away from them. Now more than ever, we need to be mindful of shared spaces when practicing social distance, and since this is all new to us, navigating it can be difficult. Let’s shed some light on the situation and keep you and your neighbors safe.
It’s About We, Not Me
First and foremost, it’s essential to recognize that if you’re not in an at-risk category (elderly or immunocompromised), your actions can still very much affect their health. We must all adopt the mindset that being social distance is not only to keep ourselves and our families healthy but to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Be aware that a few doors down the hall, your neighbor may have multiple sclerosis and is at higher risk, or that an elderly couple lives a few floors down and uses the same elevator every day.
Take Time Away From Common Areas
We know that the big draw for many luxury apartment communities is fantastic amenities. The all-purpose fitness centers, Olympic swimming pools, and indoor golf simulators are convenient. Still, we’re all making sacrifices, and those are luxuries we can live without (if they aren’t already outright closed by your apartment community). Your kids might be itching to go to your community’s park, but now is an excellent time to teach them about how their actions affect others.
To switch things up, work out from the comfort of your own home. Bodyweight exercises like pushups, dips, and crunches almost always have light or assisted versions, so almost anyone can do them. Otherwise, take the kids out and go for a run or hike where there aren’t any people gathering.
Sanitation and Hygiene Go a Long Way
You’ve heard it a hundred times, and I’m going to tell you the hundred-and-first. Wash your hands when you get home, when you’re leaving the house, and before you eat. It can go a long way to keeping you and your neighbors safe. This goes doubly for your kids, since if they’re anything like ours, they touch, poke, and prod everything they walk past.
Disinfectants like bleach and isopropyl alcohol are excellent at combating viruses, so make sure to wipe down any common areas in your apartment, including door handles, sink handles, drawers, refrigerator handles, and more. If you want to go a step further, take a disinfecting wipe with you on the elevator and use it before and after you press your floors. The same goes for shared laundry facilities. Your extra effort might just prevent a hospital visit for an at-risk neighbor.
Limit How Often You Need to Go Out
Many states currently have a shelter-in-place order. That said, you’ll still need to make trips out for groceries and other necessities. Do your best to stock up, so you don’t have to make frequent trips. If you do know of any elderly or immunocompromised neighbors, you may want to call them up to see if they need anything small before you head out. A simple act of kindness during a difficult time in someone’s life can make all the difference.
This post was brought to you by Novus Westshore, a luxury apartment community in Tampa, FL.
