Mastodawn

I need tips for apartment hunting while COVID cautious!

I’m losing my housing and the stress of it has utterly destroyed my baseline. It’s so difficult to find safe housing as a disabled individual.

I’ve finally found a few units to view, but my concern is if I wear my respirator I can’t adequately assess smells and triggers like mold or VOCs.

My MCAS is very severe. I usually know quite quickly if I’m going to react to a space … but I can’t always tell right away when I’m masked up.

No one is living in the units so they will be empty and it’s just me and one other person going to the viewing.

If I can convince that person to wear an N95 and keep their distance… do you think it’s safe if I remove my mask for a few minutes?

I basically just want to smell around things like the hvac, under sinks, anywhere there’s plumbing and the walls in case there’s been new paint.

I know it might be moderately risky but it would be catastrophic to get locked into a year lease somewhere making me sick.

Appreciate any tips if there’s something I’m not thinking of!

I think your reasoning is sound that a few minutes of un-masked assessing the air is less risky than taking chances on a year's lease.

@Kathmandu thank you! Unsure if I will risk it if the other person won’t mask… but hopefully they won’t mind putting one on briefly for me.