COVID-19 Digest: July 17

COVID-19 Digest: July 17

July 17, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Friday, July 17, 2020

We’re heading into Phase IV in NYC on Monday! Here’s a quick Friday post to help you prepare and take you into you weekend: 

  • A quick round of useful updates:

    • NYC will move into Phase IV on Monday, which means low-risk arts and entertainment, professional sports with no spectators, and TV, movie, and media production can resume. (Gothamist) Outdoor venues like zoos and botanical gardens may reopen on Monday, but some anticipated businesses will get a delayed rollout — Phase IV will not include the opening of indoor venues like malls and museums, their reopening guidance to come at a later date. Indoor dining will also remain on pause.

    • NYC’s outdoor dining program has been extended to October 31. (Eater NY) But Gov. Cuomo is cracking down on the rules: walk-up bar service is no more, and you’ll have to also order food to order alcohol. (New York Times) The rules are meant to reduce crowds outside bars, so while to-go cocktails are still permitted, they’re just that: to-go. If you do want to sit and stay, here’s a regularly-updated map of all the outdoor dining spaces with permitted table service.

    • The tightening of the rules comes with good reason: the US shattered its daily case record for the 11th time this month, topping 75,000 new cases yesterday. (New York Times) This comes as clashes over mandatory mask rules swept across the country. By the looks of this map, far too many people still haven’t gotten the message: wear a mask.

  • One program update: we’ve seen a lot of enthusiastic response to Summer Bridge, NYC’s summer youth employment program — 75 companies have already come on board to host hundreds of student cohorts next month! (Virtually, of course.) There’s still time for your company to get involved — the program is an invaluable opportunity for low-income and COVID-impacted students in the city, and with the student stipends and day-to-day management covered by the Summer Bridge team, it’s an easy to do, incredibly meaningful experience for businesses as well. Your company can enroll to participate through Monday here.

  • And before you go, if you haven’t already, be sure to add us ([email protected]) to the contacts in your inbox so future digests don’t get lost.

Have a good weekend, and

!