UPDATED – Wednesday March 18th

Some useful and helpful information regarding COVID-19 from our friends at ASCO:

WATCH FOR  SYMPTOMS

Fever, Cough. Shortness of breath

If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19, get medical attention immediately by calling/contacting your doctor. Emergency signs include:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

Persistent pain or pressure in the chest

New confusion or inability to arouse

Bluish lips or face

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

Clean your hands often with soap and water for at least 20  seconds (sing Happy Birthday twice) especially after being in public place or sneezing or coughing.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth. Avoid hugs, embraces, and shaking hands.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or the crook of your arm, and throw away used tissue.

Use disinfectant wipes or sprays  to clean frequently touched surfaces at home and work.

In common elements of your building, when touching elevator panel, buttons, door knobs, etc, wear gloves or use a tissue (toss away after use).

Do not let others use your cell phone, pen, etc.

Stay home as much as possible. And if you do feel sick, call your health care provider for assistance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, UPDATES   

Reach the Illinois Dept. of Public Health for Updates at 800-889-3931

Reach the Chicago Department of Public Health COVID-19 hotline at 312-746-4835, or visit http://chicago.gov/coronavirus 

Learn more about these and other things to watch for with the Coronavirus, including recommendations, how it spread and more in general about COVID-19, at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html

To sign up to volunteer to help elderly,or questions to help you http://48thward.org/coronavirus  And to sign up for Alderman  Osterman’s email newsletter http://48thward.org

Of course visit ASCO’s community action website at www.ascosheridanroad.org.

UPDATED – Monday March 16th

For Our Owners, Residents, Friends and Neighbors,

We wanted to share with you an update regarding The Habitat Company’s response to the Coronavirus/COVID-19, and what escalated measures our team is taking at Park Tower. The recent announcements of school and business closings will ultimately impact everyone, including our onsite team members.

The health and safety of our residents and team members is first and foremost. Based on recommendations from medical professionals, including guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) we are encouraging and supporting “social distancing” as a precautionary measure to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. Therefore we are requesting the following:

• We ask everyone to voluntarily refrain from visiting the management office. Our management team will continue to be accessible via email, text, and phone call (773-769-3250 and parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com). Office Hours will be reduced to 8am to 12pm, though all our managers will continue working and following up on business and communications around the clock from home.
• All non-emergency apartment service requests and work orders will be suspended for the time being. Our maintenance team will be working on a revised schedule and rotation, focusing on cleaning, emergency requests and building mechanicals only.
• The Health Club will be closed effective Monday March 16th at 12pm, and until further notice.
• We ask that all food deliveries continue to be made to your apartment door.
• Please refrain from group meetings in common areas and limit interaction within shared spaces.
• All onsite resident events have been cancelled – including tonight’s scheduled Game Night – as an effort to limit person-to-person contact.
• When possible please keep your distance between you and other individuals, including neighbors and the staff.

We do want to emphasize, consistent with previous communications, cleaning frequency has been increased in commons areas such as the lobby and front desk, laundry room, elevators, package room, management office, common area doors, and more. The latest revised schedule will actually increase our janitorial presence on the evening and overnight shifts. But we can’t urge our residents enough to also focus on personal hygiene and measures you can take to reduce the opportunity for exposure or spread of the virus, including:

• Washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

We have not been made aware of anyone onsite who has tested positive for the virus, however we have been told there are those self-quarantining as a precaution. We do respectfully request that if you do test positive and/or self-quarantine under virus suspicion, that you contact the management office so that we can make reasonable accommodations to help ensure the health and safety of your neighbors and team members. Resident personal health information will be kept confidential.

We understand this situation is not ideal, but we all need to work together to ensure a safe living environment for you as well as a safe working environment for our team. We will continue to keep you up-to-date on the latest changes.

Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.

Feel free to share any questions or concerns by writing us at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com.

ORIGINAL POST – Monday March 9th

At Park Tower, our team is enhancing our efforts as reasonably as we can to ensure building cleanliness for our residents.  General cleaning and sanitizing work areas, public places and shared spaces (commonly touched fixtures) are already part of our daily routine.

Nonetheless, our janitors are being reminded on a daily basis, to be conscious of the spaces and fixtures they are cleaning, and to make a strong effort to address areas where hands and fingers rest, press, grab and otherwise leave prints. They are being encouraged to be vigilant, thorough and use good sense when cleaning these areas.

We are not health officials, and therefore there is little we can do to professionally address health risks such as the Coronavirus. Some say, if we address this why haven’t we addressed the flu? We do encourage all our residents to contact the CDC if they have specific questions about any such health issue. They also have an online FAQ which is great for anyone with questions or curiosity about this epidemic, how it spreads, what you can do to protect yourself, signs and symptoms, and much more:

CDC Coronavirus Frequently Asked Questions

There are also helpful links from the Chicago Department of Public Health and the World Health Organization:

• City of Chicago, Department of Public Health:  https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdph/provdrs/health_protection_and_response/svcs/2019-novel-coronavirus–2019-ncov-.html
• World Health Organization Coronavirus Page: who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

The W.H.O site has several great videos, including a helpful instructional for protecting yourself:

From the material we reviewed and considered, there seemed to be a common theme of everyday preventive actions we can all take to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including:

• Washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

If you do have questions or concerns, we have been told it is recommended to contact the CDC, by calling 800-232-4636.