Photo courtesy of Cecila Melchor
How we're adjusting our routines, habits, and mindsets for a new normal.
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Melchor has been living at 21st Street, known by residents and their friends as “the treehouse,” for three years, and previously served as the co-op’s director. But shortly after COVID hit in March, she stepped down and let two members run and share the position, which she says has ballooned into way too big a job for one person, given all the new rules.College Houses, the organization that manages the collection of co-op houses near the UT campus, started shutting down common spaces in 21st Street in March, around the time the WHO declared coronavirus a global pandemic, and UT canceled classes for the semester. The house’s gym and computer lab were closed and Melchor, along with other members, started attending two- to three-hour meetings every day on the newly formed emergency response team.“We agreed that we should all wear masks before it was mandated,” Melchor said. Austin mayor Steve Adler issued a city mask order on March 31, months before Governor Greg Abbott moved toward anything resembling a mandatory mask order for the state as it struggled with staggering coronavirus case numbers. But inside 21st Street, residents were already required to wear masks in any common space—basically everywhere but their personal rooms, the bathroom, and while eating in the dining room.“We agreed that we should all wear masks before it was mandated.”
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“It’s a lot safer to be social in a closed circuit, because everybody lives in the same building and people aren’t really leaving,” Vazquez Fowler said. “This was a way to live somewhere and fulfill the social aspects that I need, while keeping the lowest risk possible.”The lack of necessary errands helps (house-designated “gophers” run errands for members upon request), but the idea that the house keeps to and cares for itself is likely the thing that keeps 21st Street so safe. Earlier in the pandemic, Ullman said she visited a friend who lives in a nearby apartment building, one of the tall ones with an elevator.“The people in the building don’t wear masks; we’ll be in the elevator and the people won’t be wearing a mask,” she said. “It’s scary, and I think they feel like they’re not endangering anyone because they don’t live with people who [they know] are immunocompromised, or with a lot of other people, and they’re more concerned about themselves than their community. I don’t mean that as a harsh generalization—I do think there are a lot of people who care, but I think we care so much about our community. The constant reminders of community, safety, and love are what keeps us all accountable.”Follow Hannah Smothers on Twitter.“The constant reminders of community, safety, and love are what keeps us all accountable.”