Tenants call on city’s Housing Authority to stop coronavirus spread after positive case reported

Tenants are calling on the city’s Housing Authority to stop the spread of the coronavirus after a woman in their building tested positive.

News 12 Staff

Mar 28, 2020, 1:57 AM

Updated 1,650 days ago

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Tenants are calling on the city’s Housing Authority to stop the spread of the coronavirus after a woman in their building tested positive.
Lillian Olivera is communicating with her family inside of 1473 Watson Ave. from the outside in light of her 78-year-old mother’s hospitalization more than a week ago. 
Olivera is calling on her mother’s landlord and the city’s Housing Authority to take action in stopping the spread. 
“They need to sanitize the building from the rooter to the tooter. They need to start at the top and go all the way to the bottom,” said Olivera. 
Tenants at the building say that the lack of cleaning and overall dirtiness has been an issue at the building for years. They say they're questioning why more isn't being done, especially in the midst of a global pandemic.
The agency says it has been working around the clock since the coronavirus hit New York City. 
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They added in a statement saying, “This includes having our dedicated workforce and vendors disinfect high-traffic, high-touch areas in our senior buildings five times per week and our entire portfolio three times a week."
“You figure they would at least do their job, sanitize. They know that elderly people live here. It's not fair, we can not do, we are the most vulnerable, you understand, and it's not right,” said Olivera. 
News 12 asked NYCHA if having a reported coronavirus case at one of its developments affects the agency’s response and they said in part, “While NYCHA cannot stop a global pandemic, we can and will continue to provide our NYCHA community with information and sanitize high-touch, high traffic locations in all of our 316 developments and 2,200 buildings. We implore our residents to follow local, state and national Health Department guidelines regarding social distancing and other safe health practices to prevent the spread of coronavirus."