As of 3:00PM on September 1st, 2020, there are confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 3 on campus residence halls at UT Austin— San Jacinto, Jester, and Kinsolving respectively. However, it seems not all residents of these halls were not made aware of these cases by school officials through any medium. Instead, the school newspaper, The Daily Texan, thankfully took it upon themselves to spread the word through Twitter, their website, etc. In addition, it is unclear in the case of Jester Dormitories if the COVID-19 case(s) are present in Jester West or Jester East, causing unease and uncertainty for residents— mostly underclassmen. 

At this time, it seems only secondary and primary contacts of the infected students/staff are being contacted with regards to possible exposure.

This is simply not enough. 

We want UT Austin to contact ALL residents, faculty, and staff working and living on campus when COVID-19 cases pop up. As residents, no matter if known contact was made with an infected individual, we all use the same elevators, laundry facilities, dining halls, restrooms, etc. And while sanitation measures are in place, being that cases ARE emerging on campus, it is safe to conclude that it’s simply inefficient to only directly inform a fraction of those frequenting on campus buildings. Students, faculty, and staff deserve to full transparency regarding the status of COVID-19 in the places they work and live. No names need to be made public for privacy and safety reasons, but it’s ludicrous to not provide full transparency to residents and workers, most of whom either pay thousands of dollars to attend this institution, or work tireless hours to make a living here. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a student organization to do what an esteemed university should be. 

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