When the Pandemic Comes to a NORC Near You...

In senior living, one of the more interesting phenomena are so-called "naturally occurring retirement communities," or NORCs.  This label, or a related "village" label, is often used to describe residential settings where a large proportion of the population is now over the age of 60, not by design or plan.  The citizenry has continued to live there as they age, and has attracted complementary local service industries, such as wellness programs, home health visitors, day care options, and adapted transportation modes.  Some of the early, well documented and often studied NORCc include Beacon Hill in Boston, and Upper Park Heights in northwestern Baltimore.  Residents in the area often take great pride in the trend, emphasizing it as a positive way to age in place, drawing upon appropriates supports that help to maintain individual dignity.  

But what happens when a new, highly infectious disease also finds its way into a NORC?  As is too often true in law, the answer is probably, "It depends."

One such place is Co-op City in the Bronx.  According to some reports  it is the largest residential development in the U.S., with 43,000 residents in 36 towers and seven townhouse clusters, plus larges grass fields, walking paths, a community garden, nearby schools, shopping, and its own Little League baseball field.  Development of the planned, cooperative housing projects that comprise Co-Op City occurred from approximately 1966 to 1976.  The 2000 census showed that  60.5% of the population of Co-op City was African American, about 27.7% were Hispanic or Latino and about 8.6% were white.  A corporation is in charge of management.  

Co-Op City has also become an unplanned NORC, with one of the largest populations of elderly in the country.   As early as 2007, public sources estimated that over 8,300 of the residents were over the age of 60.  See also 2016 statistics that indicate that 21% of the population in District 10 (where Co-Op City is located) is over age 65, in comparison to New York City's overall age 65+ population of 16%.  Co-Op City is recognized as a NORC-JASA community for age-related programming and services.  

In 2020, the Bronx generally and Co-Op City especially appear to have been hard hit by the corona virus. Public media sources, reporting here and  here, use statistics released by city health officials,  to reveal "that the virus has killed at least 155 people in the zip code" that covers Co-Op City. "That's roughly 1 in every 282 residents."  (Hmm.  I'm not sure about the numerators and denominators used in these articles).  

It may be tempting for some to dismiss negative statistics in any single statistical areas as due to a single factor, such as vulnerability tied to advanced age.  That can be dangerous as discussed in the  article by Barbara Pfeffer Billauer, linked in my May 26 post.  

Instead, take the time to consider other factors that may point to the deep risk of infectious disease in certain congregate settings and that appear to exist in Co-Op City:

• a geographic community with physical constraints that mean residents depend on public transit -- at a higher risk -- for much of their connection to the working world, including non-family caregivers and service providers; 
• confined locations to do necessary shopping for food and pharmacy supplies;
• comparatively tightly packed living or working spaces; 
• and, significantly, common ingress/egress for buildings via limited numbers of hallways and tall towers of elevators for all such comings and goings. 

In this instance, a NORC, usually considered a better space for aging in place, arguably may have become a large-scale version of a nursing home, with abundant opportunities for building-to-building, apartment-to-apartment transmission of infections.  At a minimum, perhaps this is another reason to think more aggressively about public health strategies and health policy priorities in light of the lessons we are learning from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Special thanks to my Dickinson Law colleague, Professor Sarah Williams, for alerting me to what is happening with coronavirus in Co-Op City.