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Austin Mayor Adler talks COVID, inequity, homelessness and policing in 'State of the City' address
05 August
(City of Austin)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday—virtually.
This story has been updated to include quotes from the mayor's speech.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday evening, in which he discussed the coronavirus pandemic, police funding, the local economy, homelessness, transit and equity issues.
<p>Usually delivered to a crowd at City Hall, tonight's address was—as are all things Council these days—virtual.</p><p>"This could have been a speech only about COVID-19," Adler said. Instead, much of his 25-page address focused on the opportunities presented in this moment. </p><p>"Perhaps only at times such as these, where our routines and inertia are so utterly disrupted, can we be freed and forced to dream and act big," he said. "So let's do big things. Let's end homelessness. Let's bring real mobility to Austin. Let's reimagine how we keep one another safe. Let's address race and do something about correcting centuries of injustice because it is the fundamental injustice that fuels so many others." </p><p>Below are some quotes, excerpted from a transcript shared in advance. </p><p><strong>On the coronavirus</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We all want the local economy—and our lives—back as we knew them. But the governor's decision to reopen before we had sufficient testing and tracing in place and before our numbers were low enough compounded the challenge. … Truth is, the virus was never gone. <a href="https://austonia.com/testing-asymptomatic-austin" target="_blank">It just hides</a>, waiting for us to invite it back into our lives." </p><p><strong>On the economy</strong></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Unemployment is at unimaginable levels. Businesses have shuttered - some temporarily and some lost forever. Many of our neighbors don't know how they're going to feed their families or whether they'll be evicted from their homes. Tenants struggle with rent; homeowners and landlords struggle with mortgage payments. Our hospitality and creative workers and industries, so great a part of our economy, are reeling. For many, it's already too late." </p><p><strong>On homelessness</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"To the people <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-homeless-petition" target="_blank">that signed on to the petition</a> because they were desperate for a solution for people experiencing homelessness, I want to say that I share your impatience. Having chosen this more just path, though, and having rejected the false promise of cosmetic fixes, our work is incomplete unless we follow through with the commitment to house the homeless. This will require us to do a better job of inclusively managing shared public spaces." </p><p><strong>On transit</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Project Connect is <a href="https://austonia.com/transportation/project-connect-austin" target="_blank">a bold transit plan</a> for the just and accessible city we aspire to be. It certainly addresses traffic, but it will do so much more. … Project Connect will connect our entire city, creating new opportunity for Austinites, reducing our dependence on expensive personal vehicles, and save lives." </p><p><strong>On police funding</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I want to address police department leadership. … We need not only an openness to consider change but a keen desire to move past the status quo and to look at public safety more broadly than [ever,] mainly focusing on ensuring we're best equipped to deal with unsafe moments when they occur. We need more than just a willingness to accept change <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-city-council-police-policy" target="_blank">if it happens</a>; we need a champion for change at its best."</p><p><span></span>Want to read the whole speech? Here's the transcript. </p><p class="pdf-loader"><a class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bdab21c224a6f214f9ee5a4066743481" href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/6988/SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf">SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf</a></p><p>Make it a game! Adler invited residents to use this bingo card to mark off every topic mentioned in the speech. Can you get to bingo? Share it on social media with #ATXSOTC.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b0e4c3e305d794e5a8d90586202a727" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="99d54" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzNzU2OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Njg4NTY1NH0.wzAmDm1N9F0NflybdxcR9O5shzZ_8EsH-H8Dhs40ywM/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(City of Austin)</small></p>
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Alexey Novikov - stock.adobe.com
The University of Texas-Austin plans to test up to 5,000 people on campus each week for COVID-19 using "a strategic, scientific-based approach" that includes rapid results, contact tracing and community testing, officials said Tuesday.
<p>The university is relying on in-house testing for faculty, students and staff to reduce the pressures on commercial labs in the community, according to <a href="https://president.utexas.edu/messages-speeches-2020/covid-19-testing-for-fall-semester" target="_blank">an email from Interim President Jay Hartzell to the UT community.</a></p><p>The goal is to test at least 5,000 members of the campus community every week in order to contain the spread of the virus once school starts, he said.</p><p>Symptomatic students will get tests at University Health Services, which provides medical care and patient education to students. Faculty and staff will be tested at the UT Health Austin clinic at Dell Medical School.</p><p>"We will have the capacity to test hundreds of symptomatic students each day using in-house labs," Hartzell said. "Additionally, we have ordered three rapid testing machines that will allow for approximately 100 tests per day with a 15-minute turnaround time for results."</p><p>UT has enlisted the help of Dell Medical School and Austin Public Health to help with contact tracing for those who test positive for coronavirus.</p><p>School officials have also established the UT Proactive Community Testing Program to test asymptomatic individuals at no cost and monitor spread within the community.</p><p>"Our success as a university begins and ends with the health of our community," Hartzell said. "While we continue to pursue our teaching and research missions, we must also do our best to limit the presence of COVID-19 on the Forty Acres. This starts with robust and rigorous testing, but also includes our individual actions as community members and our adherence to vital requirements for <a href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/73cmvd/bz3qaz/bj37a6" target="_blank">self-quarantining, daily symptom screening, wearing face masks</a>, <a href="https://t.e2ma.net/click/73cmvd/bz3qaz/rb47a6" target="_blank">hand hygiene</a>, social distancing and other key safety measures."</p>
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Texas Athletics will require masks, social distancing and more at home games
Fans attending Texas Longhorns home games this season must wear masks, maintain distance between groups and use only mobile tickets, according to safety plans for the upcoming football season, released Monday by the University of Texas Athletics department.
<p>Fans will be required to wear masks the entire time they're at the game, the guidelines said. They also must regularly wash their hands and use hand sanitizer, and are only allowed to use the entry gate assigned on their mobile tickets.</p><p>UT officials have said they are planning a 25 percent capacity limit at the Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium this fall. </p><p>The safety plans also describe additional measures beyond rules for fans, including 225 hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the stadium and regular sanitation of high-touch areas such as fountains and charging stations. </p><p>"Our priority is to create the safest game-day environment for our student-athletes, coaches, game officials, fans, staff and visiting teams," said Chris Del Conte, vice president and director of Texas Athletics, adding that the new guidelines "accomplish our priorities within State of Texas guidelines and in conjunction with medical officials."</p>
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(Pexels)
Travis County is reporting a slightly higher COVID-19 case fatality rate than it was in early July, despite a sustained decline in the number of new reported cases and related hospitalizations.
Following weeks of steady decline and a deflating surge, Austin's COVID-19 case fatality rate—defined as reported deaths per confirmed cases—is creeping up.
<p>With 21,214 confirmed cases and 279 reported deaths, Travis County's case fatality rate is now 1.3%, up from 1.1% on July 9.</p><p>Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott attributed the increase to the portion of older residents—around 50%—among those recently hospitalized with COVID-19. </p><p>"We know that in people particularly over the age of 60, the risk of death is substantially higher," Escott told the Austin City Council last week. "So I think this tells us … that we can expect that our death numbers are going to increase as these individuals have increased their representation among hospitalized individuals."</p><p>In Travis County, residents 60 years of age and older account for 12% of confirmed COVID-19 cases but 80% of reported deaths, according to Austin Public Health data.</p><p>Austin Public Health officials had also cautioned earlier that the case fatality rate would likely rise right around now as a result of the surge.</p><p>This is because there is a two-to-three-week lag between when new cases are reported and when those patients require hospitalization—or die from the disease. In early- to mid-July, the area saw a spike in both new cases and hospitalizations.</p><p>The county reported 24 deaths the week ending July 11, 35 the week ending July 19, and 38 the last two weeks.</p><p>A similar trend is occurring at the state level, where the case fatality rate jumped from 1.3% in early July to 1.6% today, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><div class="flourish-embed flourish-chart" data-src="visualisation/3329188" data-url="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/3329188/embed"><script rel="display: none;" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script></div></div><p><strong>Down, then up again</strong></p><p><strong></strong>Until recently, Austin's case fatality rate had been falling. It was 1.1% on July 9, down from 1.8% on June 22 and 3.6% in late April.<br/></p><p>APH attributed this decline <a href="https://austonia.com/Coronavirus/austin-coronavirus-hospitals" target="_self"><u>to better treatments</u></a>—including the antiviral drug remdesivir, convalescent plasma therapy and improved ventilator management—as well as a rising number of cases among young people, who are less likely to require hospitalization or die due to COVID-19.</p><p>Travis County has reported a steady decline in the number of daily new confirmed COVID cases and hospital admissions since around mid-July.</p><p>The seven-day moving average of daily new COVID-related hospital admissions is now 36, down from a peak of more than 75 on July 8. And the average of daily new confirmed COVID cases is 248, compared to almost 600 last month. ICU occupancy rates and ventilator use <a href="https://austonia.com/Coronavirus/austin-covid-statistics" target="_self"><u>remain concerning for officials</u></a>. Both metrics show more of a plateau than a decline.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="931904f3283152cdec5c1dc30ed59de4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="95838" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzMDY4Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTE1MTc1MH0.cW25vkbwCYZlOoDNwGaRwPg1QXgq1gs5fRma3cKk79Y/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The Austin metro has seen a sustained decline in COVID-related hospital admissions since early July.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Austin Public Health)</small></p>
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Austin's COVID-19 cases remain most concentrated in East side ZIP codes.
The mountain of COVID-19 data released every day in Austin is easier to understand with visual aids.
Once a week, Austonia is taking a look at the previous seven days of COVID-19 statistics, all with the very helpful graphics of Austin resident and Reddit user Rational Anarchy, who has been producing daily visuals and posting them in the forum.
<p>
<br/><em>(Updated Aug. 7. </em><em>All graphics: </em><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RationalAnarchy" target="_blank"><em>Rational Anarchy/Reddit</em></a><em>) </em><br/></p>
Travis County’s daily confirmed new COVID-19 cases stop decline, hit plateau
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTc5My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTQ5Njk2N30.mDiI8rtBwv2SXtnveINFgzDfQsFsJ0IqBtI8yZRGp24/img.png?width=980" id="fadaa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7d3d4e1aad620c8cb2ba713fe659ff3c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>After two weeks of steady decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases and daily hospital admissions, both trend lines now appear to be in a plateau. </p><p>"That's better than a surge - but still dangerous," Austin Mayor Steve Adler said during <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-mayor-adler-speech" target="_self"><u>his State of the City address</u></a> on Wednesday. </p><p>The seven-day moving average of daily new confirmed cases has risen slightly, to 262 as of Thursday evening compared to 218 last week. The moving average of daily new hospital admissions is now 38, up slightly from 37.7 last week.</p><p>Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott is concerned <a href="https://austonia.com/coronavirus-cases-plateau-austin" target="_self"><u>the plateau could reverse track</u></a>, especially if <a href="https://austonia.com/testing-asymptomatic-austin" target="_self"><u>schools reopen and sports stadiums</u></a> welcome back fans. </p><p>"We've seen over and over again, across the country and across the globe, that when communities relax too soon, it results in a bounce of cases and a repeat surge," he told county commissioners on Tuesday.</p>Travis County’s reported COVID-19 deaths hold steady
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTc5NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTU3MjE5OX0.iWiEQOV-X1YQg5NdS52lCLd-D0w08wWTnGf8vmcYvYs/img.png?width=980" id="b4196" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9a454ab5114a979ef822730be85975fa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>As of Thursday evening, Travis County reported 288 deaths, up from 266 deaths a week ago. </p><p>The local <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-fatalities-covid" target="_self"><u>case fatality rate</u></a>—defined as the number of reported deaths per confirmed cases—remains around 1.3%, compared to 1.1% on July 9. But the 14-day moving average number of daily reported deaths has declined slightly, to four from around six last week.</p><p>Dr. Escott has attributed the increase to the fact that most of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in late July were over 60—and at much higher risk of death. </p>COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Austin metro continue to decline
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTgwMC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDgyMzY1N30.ntH5qOryFqZO8LPJYGFEiJhOBdov8W0YvmPR9bQYIYM/img.png?width=980" id="a6bef" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="933ac00b63fb11eaebcf09d397b4c2b1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>The total number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is also declining. As of Thursday evening, 297 people were hospitalized with the virus in the five-county metro area, compared to 388 a week ago. </p>And ICU occupancy improved incrementally—only to bounce back
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTgwMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzI0NjIxNH0.i7Bm2QgoI7jxEbTI0fbdMmzKMVe8si90nJ3I4faqxZc/img.png?width=980" id="0377b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="af448b0f51a0533a1c4cbb80dbc0c5c6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>After six weeks of the ICU occupancy at more than 80%, it finally dipped to 78% on Tuesday evening, according to a joint update from Austin's three major hospital systems. </p><p>But on Friday, the three systems—Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White and St. David's HealthCare—reported an updated ICU occupancy rate of 82%. </p><p>Ventilator use is declining, however, with 73 people using them as of Thursday evening, compared to 97 a week ago. </p>Austin’s COVID-19 cases remain most concentrated on the East Side
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTgwNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjIxMjUwMn0.eddZ8MmTvQg6tEd8Q5GQXh_WtPNxa7VgHfdVY1F5jLg/img.png?width=980" id="355e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9041eab209d75b77dd4f7f16841dc88e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>New COVID-19 cases in Austin remain most densely concentrated on the city's East Side—and specifically in the ZIP codes 78744, 78753 and 78660.</p><p>Austin Public Health has opened testing sites in these areas to serve those most in need and has also targeted outreach to the city's Latino and Black populations, who are at the highest risk of being hospitalized with and dying from COVID-19. </p>Austin’s older residents remain most at risk of dying from COVID-19—amid other disparities
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU0MTgwNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzMwODAwNn0.Ri1dv7EtlXadeKAzAWBvMx_dI0m_6_dwBcL-k3i61ps/img.png?width=980" id="9ff81" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2c86b59d3b303a5050916d05d7c6f52c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>While young people age 20-39 make up nearly half of the total confirmed COVID-19 cases, they are much more likely to avoid hospitalization and recover.</p><p>In sharp contrast, people 60 years and older make up only 12% of confirmed COVID-19 cases but account for 80% of reported deaths, according to Austin Public Health. </p><h5>Want to read more stories like this one? Start every day with a quick look at what's happening in Austin. Sign up for Austonia.com's free daily morning email.</h5>
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(Austin Public Health)
The moving average of daily new COVID-related hospitalizations is now 39.9, just under the threshold for a Stage 3 risk designation. But Austin Public Health will not lower it until other indicators, such as ICU capacity, improve.
Although the daily average of new COVID-related hospitalizations dropped today below the threshold for a Stage 3 risk designation, the city will remain in Stage 4.
<p>"We've seen over and over again that when we rush to open things, if we don't have the appropriate protections in place, it leads to cases surging and shutting the City down again," Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said in a statement issued Thursday, "and we do not want to be in that situation moving into the fall."</p><p>The seven-day moving average of daily new hospital admissions is currently 39.9, just under the upper limit of 40 for a Stage 3 designation.</p><p>While the hospital admissions rate is the key indicator used to determine the risk level, it is not the only one. APH also monitors other trends, such as the average number of daily new confirmed cases, ICU capacity and the doubling time—or how long it would take for the current caseload to double. </p><p>APH will consider a drop down to Stage 3—and the recommended increases in reopenings and social gatherings that come with it—only when ICU capacity improves and the rates of new daily confirmed cases and hospital admissions decline further. </p><p>For now, ICU capacity is "still very limited," according to the statement.</p><p>Austin's three hospital systems—Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health and St. David's HealthCare—reported an ICU occupancy rate of 83% on Tuesday, down from <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-icu-capacity-covid" target="_self"><u>a high of 89% in mid-July</u></a>.</p>
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(Matthew/Adobe)
The Chinese government may have tried to steal research related to COVID-19 from the University of Texas at Austin, the FBI told the school earlier this month.
<p data-children-count="0">The news came from an email sent Monday to faculty, staff and post-doctoral students from the school's interim vice president and provost, Daniel Jaffe, who wrote that the investigation was sparked by the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/22/houston-chinese-consulate-close-donald-trump/#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20decided%20to,spokeswoman%20Morgan%20Ortagus%20said%20Wednesday." target="_blank">July 24 closure of the Chinese Consulate </a>in Houston. </p><p data-children-count="0">He warned that the FBI may be reaching out to them about relations with the consulate and "efforts by the Chinese government to illegally procure research from American universities."</p><p data-children-count="0">"We do not know whom the FBI intends to contact or what they plan to discuss, nor have we shared anyone's information or details about ongoing research with FBI agents," Jaffe said in the email. "It's not unusual for federal law enforcement officers to ask to speak with researchers if deemed necessary to support criminal or national security investigations."</p><p data-children-count="0">Details of Jaffe's email to members of the university were <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/FBI-Chinese-spy-COVID-university-texas-austin-15446341.php" target="_blank">first reported by the Houston Chronicle</a>. UT is not the only university affected.</p><p data-children-count="0">The <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/22/houston-chinese-consulate-close-donald-trump/#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20decided%20to,spokeswoman%20Morgan%20Ortagus%20said%20Wednesday." target="_blank">closure of the consulate in Houston</a> served as the latest development in the conflict between the Trump administration and China, which spans issues ranging from trade, espionage, the expansion of 5G phone service around the globe and, now, the country's role in the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p data-children-count="0">The administration<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/22/houston-chinese-consulate-close-donald-trump/#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20decided%20to,spokeswoman%20Morgan%20Ortagus%20said%20Wednesday." target="_blank"> cited the need to protect intellectual property </a>and American private information in closing the consulate—the same issues the FBI is now investigating at U.S. higher education institutions. </p><p data-children-count="0">The day before the closure of the consulate, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-chinese-hackers-working-ministry-state-security-charged-global-computer-intrusion" target="_blank">Justice Department revealed indictments</a> for two Chinese hackers accused of stealing information from "computer systems of hundreds of victim companies, governments, non-governmental organizations, and individual dissidents, clergy, and democratic and human rights activists in the United States and abroad, including Hong Kong and China."</p><p data-children-count="0">A press release announcing the indictment said the hackers stole for their own personal gain, in some cases, and in others acted on behalf of the Chinese government. The terabytes of data ranged from tech manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to gaming software.</p>
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(Roschetzky Photography/Shutterstock)
When Steve Davis, 34, moved to Austin from Indianapolis on July 5, it was two months later than planned—and to a much different city than the one he'd visited months earlier.
<p>"My main purpose was to get out of my Indy bubble and meet new people," he told Austonia. "I haven't been able to do that."</p><p>Davis, who works for a mortgage company, began charting his move early this year. He planned to transfer from his employer's Indiana headquarters to a satellite office in Austin. When he visited the city in February, friends organized a party bus to drive their group from Salt Lick to a distillery and the Oasis on Lake Travis. </p><p>When the pandemic hit, Davis was unsure if a move would even be possible. "I kind of got over it and was like, 'OK, I'm just going to be stuck in Indy and not get to move,'" he said. </p><p>When Indiana and Texas began to loosen restrictions in late May, Davis visited Austin again. He signed a lease and confirmed an early July move-in. "I was like, 'I want to get down there before the second wave hits, so I can at least meet people and make friends,'" he said. "Well, it seems like that second wave hit when I was moving."</p><p>Now in Austin, Davis chose to work out of his new office even though it means wearing a mask all day. "I'm single, I live alone, and I didn't want to be stuck at home and not see anybody," he said.</p><p>Despite the challenges, Davis is glad he made the move—and hopeful that the city will open up in the coming weeks. </p><p>He is not alone. </p><p>Although the impact of the pandemic on moving trends is not yet known, people continue to arrive in Austin, which U.S. News and World Report named <a href="https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live" target="_blank"><u>the best place to live</u></a>—for the third year running—in May.</p><p>The adjustment can be hard when gathering places—such as parks, pools and bars—are closed and social gatherings are taboo. </p><p>Matthew Winters created a Facebook group for 20- and 30-somethings new to Austin in 2013. It now has 9,411 members, many of whom post about wanting to meet people. </p><p>But the utility of such groups changes in a pandemic. "The longer that it goes on, what I've noticed is events are just generally dying," Winters said. </p><p>Before COVID-19, members would post about gathering for discos or to network. When local stay-home orders took effect in late March, some members who work in tech organized creative virtual events—a game night or playing music as a group—but they have since tapered off. </p><p>There is also more trolling and negative commentary. "I've just noticed that kind of animosity a lot more during COVID than before," Winters said. </p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<a href="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzQ1Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTIxMjg0NX0.bI2271BBIp4K4A75c3Aa3izESN7iZMBQOrxlsBnmmsk/img.png?width=980" target="_blank"><img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4faea6edf1e75f71f6a2d3d1321582c9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="71826" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzQ1Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTIxMjg0NX0.bI2271BBIp4K4A75c3Aa3izESN7iZMBQOrxlsBnmmsk/img.png?width=980"/></a>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Katie Bennett moved to Austin in mid-June.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
(Katie Bennett)
</small>
</p><p>Some people are still connecting with others.<br/></p><p>Katie Bennett, 28, moved to the Riverside neighborhood from Denver in mid-June for a job in finance. She quickly found a group of friends after joining a Facebook group for women new to Austin. </p><p>After organizing a socially distanced meetup at a dog park, she and some of the other members rented a boat for a lake day and went out to brunch. One woman brought along someone she had met on Bumble BFF, expanding the circle. </p><p>Finding new friends has eased Bennett's transition to a new city. "We understand where each other is coming from," she said. "I don't want to say that any of us have too many complaints, but we can commiserate with each other and the situation that we're all in." </p><p>One topic of conversation: dating. </p><p>"My experience on dating apps has been different, whether that be Austin or the pandemic," she said. "And I wouldn't say that's a positive difference." </p>
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