When Margarita Collazo saw a sign at the entrance to her building with the City of Newark’s seal that said “This building is high risk” due to the coronavirus, she was unsure what it meant.
“I was scared,” said Collazo, who is in her 50s and has been living at Heritage Estates Apartments on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark for 12 years. “I’m at high risk because I have asthma.”
City spokeswoman Sondra Roberts said Heritage Estates Apartments was deemed high risk by Newark officials because people there tested positive for the virus. Any building with more than three cases now gets a high-risk sign posted on the building by the city.
There were 12 people at Heritage Estates as of Thursday who had gotten the coronavirus and the first case was reported on March 27, according to city officials. There were eight active cases as of Wednesday since it was reported to the state that two people recovered and two others had died, the city said.
The signage is part of work from a new task force created by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in the wake of COVID-19. It monitors senior housing, nursing homes and high-risk residential buildings. It is led by the city’s recreation and senior services department director, Patrick Council.
Heritage Estates Apartments is located on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark and sits across the street from Weequahic Park.Rebecca Panico | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Apartment buildings, which are more common in urban areas like Newark, pose a unique challenge in the combat against the virus since residents live close to each other.
“You have to understand, 75% of our city, again, are renters,” said Baraka on Thursday during a virtual town hall. “You want to know why our cases are growing and why they look like that? It’s not just because people are doing what they want to do. It’s because when people get infected they have no safe place to social distance.”
There were at least 5,401 cases of coronavirus in Newark as of Thursday and 409 deaths.
Collazo said the building’s management never told her how many cases of the virus were in her tower. She said management put up signs inside the building April 17, about three days before the city’s notice went up, that said no visitors were allowed since there were “a number of cases of COVID-19” in the building.
The management company for Heritage Estates Apartments, 555 Elizabeth Ave. LLC, did not respond to requests for comment. It’s unclear who owns the building since the management company lists a shell agency — Vcorp — as its registered agent, state business records show.
Both signs from the city and the management company said the building was on “lockdown.” However, both notices specify residents are allowed to leave for essential purposes like grocery shopping or medical appointments.
The management’s sign said no visitors would be allowed into the building and that “we will be closely monitoring the cameras.” Collazo said security has not stopped her to ask who she is or where she is going.
This sign was posted inside Heritage Estates Apartments by the building's management. It says the building is on "lockdown" due to COVID-19 and no visitors are allowed inside.Margarita Collazo
Two signs posted inside Heritage Estates Apartments in Newark show new restrictions that were put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Margarita Collazo
The no visitor policy comes from the Newark’s new task force, the city said.
The building is required by the city to be sanitized three times a day and a sanitation station is supposed to be available in the lobby, but Collazo said she hasn’t seen that happen. Some residents wear masks when they leave to do laundry in the building, while others don’t.
Collazo said she found the information about the cases at the complex concerning.
“We don’t know what floors they are on and we don’t know if these people are coming out."
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.