Are there really a lot of advantages of living in a housing complex these days? Is there better safety? Does the community and the infrastructure help to live a more fulfilling life?
Sambit Roy lives in a gated community with his beautiful wife Sreetama and their 7-year-old daughter Rini. They really think that living in a residential complex is a privilege during these trying times. They feel safer and can overcome the regular challenges of various restrictions with the help of the facility management team.
Covid second wave has again disrupted our lives which were slowly coming back to normalcy. This time there were further challenges as the infection spread fiercely. As everyone in Sambit’s family is below 45 years, vaccination is still some time away.
Nevertheless, a nuclear family like theirs has a high requirement of safety because if any one of them is infected with Covid, it is almost certain that everyone in the family will be infected. There is no one to support them in such a scenario.
Does a gated complex with several restrictions on the entry of outsiders, and maintenance of Covid protocol offer higher safety? Let’s explore a little more.
Housing Complexes Follow Covid Protocol Better
Housing complexes’ facilities are generally professionally managed and they follow Covid protocol quite rigorously. The central Ministry of Home and Family Welfare has also issued a detailed guideline for residents’ welfare associations. Lapses will not be tolerated leniently by the members and the facility management team or company can be disengaged. Therefore, they are cautious about following guidelines.
This caution instills a sense of discipline among all the staff. One of the major benefits of restricting people who would go inside the complex is that the chance of spreading Covid is reduced. Most gated complexes have thermal screening arrangements especially for housemaids, newspaper vendors, plumbers, electricians, etc. who need to get inside from time to time.
Apart from the above, housing complexes can afford to regularly clean and sanitize the premises with disinfectant spray. This is not often possible in most single buildings because of the consideration of cost and manpower availability.
Housing Complexes are Offering Emergency Help to Covid Patients
Housing complexes generally have large common spaces and various rooms in them. Housing complexes are converting spaces like community halls to isolation centres with oxygen beds for Covid patients, although for a temporary period. This can potentially reduce the spread of the disease and protect the family members.
Housing complexes have also increased their Covid related inventory. Most notably, they have procured oxygen concentrators and some essential medicines for emergency use by any Covid patient. This also offers significant solace to the residents of such complexes.
Vaccinations at Housing Complexes
Housing complexes are taking a proactive step in offering Covid vaccinations for the residents. This is a welcome step for the residents, especially for the aged and the unwell. This arrangement of vaccination at the premises is also saving a lot of time and worry, as the members can avoid standing in long queues where physical distancing is not maintained.
Generally, the vaccination camps are being organized in association with a hospital. This ensures proper and professional vaccination while maintaining all required protocols such as maintaining physical distance, waiting period of 30 minutes, etc.
Housing Complexes Offer Adequate Space
Being cooped up in our apartments is taking a huge toll on our physical and mental health. Most of us are killing time watching TV or on social media. The absence of enough physical movement is not only weakening our bodies but also weakening our immunity. This is totally undesirable in the current scenario when a pandemic is raging.
This problem is accentuated in standalone buildings where the lack of open facilities makes it difficult to even take a stroll. Thankfully, housing complexes have adequate open spaces to take some form of physical exercise, or even to take a walk or jog. Although gyms and swimming pools are not recommended currently one can surely do some form of free-hand exercise in the open air. This will help anyone to keep in shape, and maintain elevated immunity to fight any infection much better.
Another advantage of a housing complex over any standalone building is the landscaped open spaces, gardens, open-air seating arrangements, and beautified areas for social interaction. It is possible to maintain physical distance while talking to friends and neighbours, and just be at peace with nature.
Covid is not only destroying lives but it is also destroying our mental health. We cannot live isolated from the world, only looking at mobile or computer screens, without endangering our mental health. Housing complexes offer adequate space for the residents to unwind and distress, and share the joys and sorrows of the current time and are greatly helping to win an invisible war against the pandemic.
