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COVID-19 Digest: July 13

COVID-19 Digest: July 13

July 13, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Monday, July 13, 2020As NYC begins reopening, the digest will focus on the resources that help you make decisions about your businesses and your lives as New Yorkers.

Below and in our resource guide, you’ll find the latest information on government resources for businesses, city and state reopening measures, and return-to-office preparedness plans. If this can be useful to your colleagues and network, encourage them to sign up here.

The Latest in New York

The latest: Travelers from 19 states must provide contact info to NY or be penalized; Gov. Cuomo releases school reopening guidance, district approvals to begin in August; Empire State Building panoramic viewing deck opening July 20 at limited capacity; it’s hot! stay hydrated and stay cool.Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 402,263 (+557)
New York City: 219,301 (+250)
Statewide Fatalities: 24,989 (+10)
Daily NYC Infection Rate: 1.1 percent (-0.2 percent)

General Updates:

Over the weekend, NYC reached another milestone in containing COVID-19: on Sunday, the city reported zero new coronavirus deaths for the first time since the pandemic hit. (Bloomberg)
On the flip side: the US identified more than 100,000 new cases over the weekend. (New York Times) Florida set a new national record of new daily cases, reporting more than 15,000 on Sunday, surpassing New York which topped out at under 12,000 in April. (CNN) And today, facing rising cases as well, California announced a broad rollback of its reopening plans. (New York Times)
Gov. Cuomo announced today guidelines for the safe reopening of schools in the fall, saying determinations will be made with a regional approach in the first week in August. (CNBC) More on that below.
Out-of-state travelers from the 19 states under the travel advisory will now be required to provide local authorities with address and contact information upon entering New York to help enforce quarantining. (Democrat & Chronicle) Travelers will receive forms from airlines that must be turned in before leaving Port Authority and/or any airport in the state. Those who do not comply will receive a summons and a $2,000 fine.
NYC has launched the NYC PPE + Reopening Supplies Marketplace to help businesses purchase supplies in order to operate safely and efficiently. More on that in the return-to-office section below.
One cool thing: Google is providing 100,000 scholarships for online certificates in data analytics, project management, and UX design. (CNBC) The certificates are created and taught by Google employees, don’t require a college degree, and can be completed in three to six months on the Coursera platform.

One opportunity: SoGal Foundation is partnering with several brands to offer $10K and $5K cash grants to Black women and Black nonbinary entrepreneurs. The application is very simple and accepted on a rolling basis. For more info on the Black Founder Startup Grant and to apply, click here.One good read: Have You and Your Friends Had the COVID Talk? (The Cut)

Survey

The latest results: When do you expect to be able to return to the office?

6.2%: I've already returned to the office
1.6%: This month
0.5%: After July, but before Labor Day
30.1%: After Labor Day, but before the end of the year
67.1%: Not until 2021

(Note: We first asked this question on April 22, and at that time, 29.5 percent of respondents said they expected to return in June. The most dramatic change was among respondents who said they wouldn’t return until 2021 — in April, that number was just at 7.8 percent.)

Today’s poll: Gov. Cuomo once again put his artistic mind on display today with the reveal of a new poster that illustrates New York’s harrowing journey over the past several months. And… it’s bizarre. Which part of the governor’s commemorative oeuvre is your favorite?

*|SURVEY: The European airplane riding the Winds of Fear and parting the WH Task Force and CDC clouds|*
*|SURVEY: "The boyfriend" desperately hanging on the cliff's edge|*
*|SURVEY: The governor driving a muscle car headed straight for Boyfriend Cliff|*
*|SURVEY: Sad Trump stuck sitting on the moon|*
*|SURVEY: Captain the dog|*
*|SURVEY: Other|*

Reminder: If you haven’t already, please help us get to know you better by completing our quick audience survey here. Find the poll results from all previous editions of this newsletter here.

What You Need to Know

Reopening Schools:

Gov. Cuomo today released state guidelines for how the state’s 700 school districts should craft reopening plans for the fall. (CNBC)
- The state Board of Regents is also releasing its own guidance this week, which is meant to synthesize the opinions of school officials, parents, and teachers the body has consulted on how to deliver instruction safely. (Newsday)
- This comes after Mayor de Blasio announced the plan for NYC schools last week, which proposes a blended model of in-person and remote instruction on a rotating schedule. (New York Times)
New York State will greenlight school reopenings based on one formula:
- Schools may reopen if the region where they are located is in Phase IV, and the daily infection rate remains below five percent using a 14-day average.
- The approvals to reopen schools that satisfy that metric will be granted during the first week of August.
- If, after August 1, a region’s infection rate increases to more than nine percent using a seven-day average, the approval to open schools will be revoked and they must close back down.
These thresholds hardly help teachers and parents do more proactive planning — a region’s infection rate could change quickly and shutter schools again at a moment’s notice — leaving teachers and families to scramble. (New York Times)
If a district’s plan is denied state approval — or if case counts grow and force schools’ sudden reclosure — the ripple effects are all but sure to create chaos:
- Teachers are fearful over the pressure to return. Schools are by nature crowded indoor places — the kind of environment where the airborne virus poses a lot of risk. Although the risk of young children falling ill is much lower, the data on transmission in school settings is limited and more studies will need to be done. (New York Times) And especially with funding cuts looming, many schools simply don’t have the resources to reopen safely. (Axios)
- The uncertainty has also set off a child care crisis, with many business leaders calling for a robust plan to find child care for NYC’s 1.1 million students when they are not in classrooms. (New York Times) Companies have a role to play here, providing their parent employees with greater flexibility in the way of shorter work days and/or weeks. (Axios)
- This is especially true for working parents — a remote-forward semester may hinder their ability of hundreds of thousands of parents to return to their pre-pandemic lives, further undermining the recovery of a sputtering local economy. (Washington Post)
- New research also estimates that coronavirus-related school closures, and the loss of direct learning time, could have a negative impact on students’ future earning potential. (Brookings Institution)
Schools in Los Angeles and San Diego, the two largest public school districts in California, will, in contrast, be online only in the fall. (Axios) And Miami-Dade is taking a novel approach: it's asking parents to vote on their preference of online, hybrid or in-person, but this only applies if the state goes to the next phase of re-opening.
Perhaps learning can just go the same way as dining: outdoors. (New York Daily News)

What to Know: Reopening:

The CUNY system released some details for its fall reopening, which will include a mix of in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction models. (Details)
The New York Public Library is now offering grab-and-go services at select branches. (Patch) Twenty-two branches will open across all five boroughs.
The Empire State Building observatory is reopening on July 20. (USA Today) Capacity will be limited to 20 percent and tickets must be booked in advance. Masks are required and guests must undergo a temperature check.
Following a preview weekend for members and frontline health workers, Storm King Art Center is reopening on July 15. (New York Times) To visit, tickets must be booked in advance, and you’ll need a car or taxi, as the usual shuttle service from the Metro-North station in Beacon still isn’t running.