Kate is a white woman in her 40’s. Her father is elderly and frail. He is at the point where, physically, he is not safe to live at home alone, but he is refusing to move in with either of his children or leave his home. His daughter is there a few times per week, but can not provide the 24 hour supervision he needs.

A close friend recently completed her Master’s degree and has significant school loans. She is in a serious relationship with her boyfriend, who is black.

As a solution for both parties, the couple moved into the father’s house. They provide 24/hr safety supervision and he provides them a free place to live while they pay down their school loans.

Kate received a phone call from a neighbor of her dad’s, reporting that another neighbor (that Kate didn’t know) has been talking to neighbors and expressing concern about the people living there. Kate is told that the people living at her father’s house threw a loud party in the backyard, with many people in close contact, not observing social distancing guidelines, and playing loud music. Kate was surprised to hear this, as her father did not tell her anything about a party. She asked her father and he said that never happened. She asked the couple and they said no, but that the next door neighbors did have a small birthday party recently, for their young child, during the afternoon. They said there was some music being played but that it was not overly loud or disruptive. They told Kate that, from what they saw, people were wearing masks and were not close, but that they really didn’t pay attention.

Kate went back to the original neighbor, whom she had never met, but wanted to address her concerns and to clarify this situation. She knocked on the neighbor’s door. When she came to the door, Kate introduced herself. She explained that the party was not at her dad’s house, and shared the description of the other neighbor’s gathering. The neighbor thanked her, and said she assumed it was this house because of the Latin music playing loudly. Kate asked, “Why would you assume Latin music was at my father’s house?”