While housing societies in the maximum city have been trying to do their bit in unique ways to contain COVID-19, matters have taken a turn for the worse for two high-rise societies in its suburban belt. With most cases being detected in residential buildings, many took precautionary measures to transform the vacant spaces in their premises into quarantine facilities for their residents. This helped those found positive to seek treatment within the premises itself. However, in two such societies, the number of cases increased after patients were kept at the quarantine facilities within their premises.
Kandivli's Neelam Co-operative Housing Society has two vacant flats on the ground floor in one of the wings, which was mainly used for community programmes and social gatherings. Seeing a surge in cases in its neighbouring societies, its residents decided to transform one of the flats into a quarantine facility as a proactive measure.
"We decided to do so because, in each flat, there were nearly five to six members, including senior citizens. Hence, isolating at home would be difficult for them," Nilesh Singh Rajput, secretary and resident of the building told the Free Press Journal.
In the first week of July, one of the house helps in the building, who recently returned from her village tested positive for COVID-19. Following this, the residents transferred her to the facility on the ground floor, where she underwent her treatment. She was staying at the facility and was recently shifted to a local civic-run COVID-19 care facility.
"After the maid tested positive, three more people were found positive in a week. One of them was a BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) worker who collected garbage from the building. We also had another household helper of one of the flats, who she tested positive within a week," stated Rajput.
"Within a week, there were three more cases in the building. The office bearers and residents jointly took a decision to shut down the quarantine facility, as it appeared to be risky. We shifted the patients to a local civic-run quarantine centre at our own expense and their employers are bearing expenses of their treatment," added the office bearer.
Likewise, in Goregaon's Govind Bhuvan, an in-house isolation facility was shut down after more cases emerged in the society.
In mid-June, the residents of this society had transformed its yoga and gymnasium hall into a four-bed quarantine facility, alongside which two oxygen cylinders were also kept.
The society members developed this facility for asymptomatic patients, who could be treated within the premises instead of being shifted to a hospital.
However, this facility was shut last week, after four COVID-19 cases were reported and civic officials partially sealed the building.
"We transferred one patient who was asymptomatic into this facility. The patient used to stay indoors only. The security guard and caretaker used to give him food twice a day," stated Vinod Patel, a resident of the building.
"The guard fell ill and developed symptoms. Residents were reluctant to keep him in the building and wanted him to be transferred to a hospital, as they believed he was in indirect contact with the patient and there is a chance more people would get infected," stated Patel.
He told, both the patients were transferred to civic-run isolation wards. Within a few days, two more residents tested positive in the building. "People are actually reluctant to set up isolation wards in the common spaces of the society, because they fear they might unknowingly contract the virus," he added.
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