COVID-19 Digest: April 14

COVID-19 Digest: April 14

April 14, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Tuesday, April 14, 2020Tech:NYC’s COVID-19 resource guide is available here. It’s updated daily with the latest info from across the NYC tech sector. Please share this with your networks and encourage your colleagues to sign up here. If there are other topics or resources that would be helpful in future editions of this digest, please let us know here.

The Latest in New York

The latest: NYC to double weekly testing capacity; what to do with city streets; city inks deal to give hotel rooms to those who need them; answers to your face mask questions.Confirmed Cases: 

  • New York State: 202,208 (+7,177)

  • New York City: 110,465 (+3,702)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 10,834 (+778)*

*The NYC Dept. of Health released new data which includes an additional 3,778 victims who are presumed to have died from COVID-19 but were not confirmed through testing. The current number of fatalities in NYC alone is now 10,367. This is not reflected in the numbers above as we await official statewide counts from the governor’s administration. (New York Times) 

General Updates:

  • Despite the President saying he has “total” authority to reopen the economy, Gov. Cuomo affirmed that it is up to the states to make that decision, citing the 10th Amendment. (NBC News) 

  • The city will begin producing 50,000 coronavirus testing kits per week next month via the Economic Development Corporation, doubling the city’s testing capacity. (Crain’s NY)

  • The IMF predicted that global GDP will fall three percent in 2020, calling the looming economic recession the “Great Lockdown” in its latest World Economic Outlook report. (Business Insider)

  • Some good news: in NYC, new hospitalizations are in the negative, as are new patients requiring ventilators. The number of new ICU admittances is also virtually flat. (Twitter)

  • If you haven’t been adequately social distancing, this 3-D simulation on just how far respiratory droplets travel may persuade you to start. (New York Times)

Survey

Yesterday’s results: Have you been able to send and/or receive mail on an expected timeline and without interruption?

  • 69.2%: Yes

  • 30.8%: No

Today’s flash poll: As we continue to think about the impacts of COVID-19, Tech:NYC is planning to put together a series of virtual conversations with public leaders on what, if any, long-term changes we should expect in public services. Modeled on our lunchtime roundtable series, Functions.NYC, we want your feedback on what would make for interesting and relevant events. Please select the topic of most interest to you among these choices:

  • *|SURVEY: Transportation|*

  • *|SURVEY: Environment and sustainability|*

  • *|SURVEY: Housing|*

  • *|SURVEY: Policing and public safety|*

  • *|SURVEY: Parks and greenspace|*

What You Need to Know

Repurposing the NYC Streetscape:

Every day this week we’re featuring a different government service and providing resources for you to learn about the changes underway due to the pandemic. For today, here’s an update on NYC’s streets, which could experience a quarantine-induced revamp:

  • Photos have been flooding social media feeds depicting near empty streets and eerily quiet NYC landmarks. (New York Magazine)

  • The stay-at-home orders have all but erased much of NYC’s congestion woes, with traffic speeds up 288 percent on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. (New York Times) The one downside (for drivers): the city’s automated speed cameras have nearly doubled the amount of speeding tickets.

  • Still, the sudden traffic changes prove an unexpected opportunity to reassess how the city manages our limited street space.

  • Mayor de Blasio used the moment to enact a pilot program to pedestrianize city streets in each borough, but it was short-lived, with the administration saying that the program was personnel-intensive and not being utilized enough. (Curbed)

  • NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson hopes to push forward with the idea, citing it as not only an effective public health tool that helps people more effectively socially distance, but also one for our collective sanity. (Twitter) Some city officials and neighborhood groups want chunks of Broadway opened up. (Curbed) New York’s existing block party system could be an easy way of implementing street closures. (New York Daily News)

  • Other cities are much further ahead on this: Oakland, for example, has closed ten percent of its streets to motor traffic. (New York Times) And in places like Los Angeles, it’s become a unique opportunity to expedite transit repair and construction projects. (CityLab)

  • As the debate in NYC rages on, today’s Google Doodle says it best: continue staying home so our streets remain open and safe for transit workers. We thank them. (Google)

WORKPLACE TOOLS:

  • Alice: providing $10,000 emergency grants to small businesses owners impacted by COVID-19. Learn more here.

  • BetaNYC: creating a citywide database of food stores’ hours for seniors, people who are immunocompromised, and emergency workers. Learn more about how you can help here.

  • DoorDash: announced an injection of roughly $100 million for local restaurants through a reduction in commissions. 

  • Onna: offering free access to its data management and integration platform for nonprofits and organizations conducting COVID-19 relief efforts. Learn more here.

  • Summer: a hub of resources for student loan relief and related federal benefits. 

  • Reminder: Tech:NYC’s COVID-19 resource guide is available here.

  • Request: please let us know as your work-from-home policies are extended or what plans your companies have as they are reassessed. Sharing this information is helpful to companies and employees across the NYC ecosystem and can be kept anonymous.

  • Read: A virtual revamp of the New York Times’s iconic 52 Places to Visit list. (New York Times)

POLICY:

  • The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments via teleconference in May, a first in the history of the court. (Axios) 

  • Gov. Cuomo issued an executive order requiring employers to provide essential workers with cloth or surgical masks when interacting with the public. (Spectrum News)

  • The MTA will grant a $500,000 death benefit to the family of any transit employee whose death is related to COVID-19. (Twitter)

  • New York City signed a $250 million hotel room contract, with rooms being used to house medical staff, patients discharged from hospitals, and people who are unable to practice social distancing due to cramped housing. (The Real Deal)

  • New York City has begun offering free childcare for essential restaurant and building workers. (Gothamist) 

EVENTS:

  • April 15: Virtual: Entrepreneurship in Uncertain Times, with Newlab Venture Partner Hilary Howe. Hosted by Newlab. (Details)

  • April 15: Virtual: Coronavirus, Tech, and Data, with Charlie Warzel and Shira Ovide. Hosted by the New York Times. (Details)

  • April 15: Webinar: Finding Product-Market Fit, with The Wing VP of Product Nickey Skarstad. Hosted by Products That Count. (Details)

  • April 16: Virtual: Next Wave: Prepare for A Radically Digitized Future. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. (Details)

  • April 16: Webinar: Alternative Financing in the Time of COVID-19, with Clearbanc and Rho Business Banking. Hosted by SeedInvest. (Details)

  • April 17: Virtual: Weekly Career Lunch Series, with Willis Stebbins, Customer Success at Slack. Hosted by thelighthouse. (Details)

  • April 17: Virtual: Learn NYC Open Data Workshop, hosted by BetaNYC. (Details)

Making sense of masks:

  • Here’s a good overview for the most common face mask questions. (Vox)

  • Why exactly are there so many different guidelines for how the public should use face masks? (NPR)

  • Here’s a very helpful user’s guide to the do’s and don’ts — how to make one, how to wear one, how to wash one. (New York Times)

  • Several staffers at The Verge came up with their own homemade solutions, to varying degrees of success. Here are some of their tips. (The Verge) If you’re also making your own, the material you use matters. (New York Times)

  • There have been lots of questions about how to wear a mask if you’re going for a run or exercising outdoors. Here’s what the experts have to say. (New York Times)

  • As the majority of the Tech:NYC team are specs-wearers, this is useful for us: how to wear face masks without fogging up your glasses. (HuffPost)

  • Whatever your solution, be sure it passes muster with the official CDC guidelines. (CDC)

When In Doubt

Check these sources for verified information from government agencies and public health authorities: