The COVID-19 Virus has
made a giant impact on the health of people around the world. We encourage
everyone to be vigilant and follow the guidelines in place to protect oneself.
Not to minimize the health effect, these articles will be about COVID-19’s impact
on real estate, which is our expertise. The stock and bond market is widely
transparent on a minute by minute basis and we hope to provide a transparency
into the real estate market.
COVID-19 has thrown us all into unprecedented times. We’re
all getting used to a new normal, and that is also true for commercial real
estate investors and users. With the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, and
its ability to live on different surfaces for multiple hours, and sometimes
days, the cleaning of work spaces and common areas has never been more
important to maintain the health of building tenants and guests.
But, responding to this pandemic starts with awareness. Owners
and property managers should consider educating their tenants on steps that
they can take to limit the chances of others getting sick. Spreading
information through emails, mailers, and posted notes can be done to ensure
that tenants are aware of what the disease is, how to prevent it, and how
landlords and property managers are monitoring the situation and keeping
tenants informed of updates, and especially what precautions are being taken.
Awareness is only part of the battle, though. Landlords and
property managers should be proactive about disease control measures. The
frequency of regularly scheduled cleaning could be increased, with a primary
focus on making sure that regularly touched surfaces, such as door handles,
counters, devices, etc. are cleaned as frequently as possible. Consider
stocking up on disinfectants and supplies, and hand sanitizer and disinfecting
wipes could be made available in all common areas.
According to some experts, though, the first line of defense
against COVID-19 is improving a building’s air quality. Improving air quality
is not only the best way to improve a building’s health, but also give it its
biggest ROI. Owners or facility managers could consider running the fans,
upgrading the filters, and keeping the filters clean. Also, by letting in fresh
air in large quantities, owners and property managers can help dilute airborne
contaminants, reducing the risk of infection.
If improving air circulation is not an option, then
investments could be made on improving air circulation. By upgrading filters to
what’s known as an MERV rating of 13 or higher (which is what hospitals use)
filtration systems will be able to catch more than 80 percent of viral
particles. Higher humidity ranges, between 40 and 60 percent, are also optimal
for lessening a virus’ ability to spread, but tenants’ comfort level should be
kept in mind when exercising this option.
In the event that a guest visiting the building has been
diagnosed with COVID-19, owners do have an obligation to notify all other
tenants and occupants of the building that a person who has entered the
building has tested positive for the virus, and what steps are being taken to
ensure tenants’ health and well-being. All common areas should be, if possible,
closed off for a deep clean and disinfection. Depending on the terms of the
lease the tenant signed, owners and property managers may or may not be
responsible for the deep clean of the tenant’s space, and that includes any
extra precautionary cleaning as well.
Owners, property managers, and even tenants, can no longer
sit idly by and hope that COVID-19 doesn’t affect them. It is all of our
responsibility to help flatten the curve, and that begins with being proactive
about the health of a building. The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner we
can get back to normal.
