COVID-19 Digest: July 9

COVID-19 Digest: July 9

July 09, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Thursday, July 9, 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: NYC releases socially distanced measures to keep residents cool; CDC and others are thinking about vaccine deployment; Starbucks to require masks for patrons nationwide; read how StrongArm Tech is helping employees return to work safely in our latest Company to Watch.Confirmed Cases: 

  • New York State: 399,513 (+584)

  • New York City: 218,052 (+275)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 24,959 (+8)

  • Daily NYC Infection Rate: 1.0 percent (-0.2 percent)

General Updates:

  • 33 states are now experiencing increased caseloads this week. (Axios) New York — which has been steadily improving — held steady, but New Jersey saw a 14 percent increase despite previously following New York’s downward trend.

  • The World Health Organization formally acknowledged, after pressure from over 200 international experts, that transmission of coronavirus by small, aerosolized droplets is possible and likely contributed to high infection risks in poorly ventilated indoor areas. (New York Times)

  • The CDC and other health officials are determining how to strategically deploy a vaccine if and when one does become available. First round vaccines will likely go to essential workers and first responders. Others argue that priority should be for those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, namely Black and brown communities nationwide. (New York Times)

  • In a new report on the NYPD from NY Attorney General Letitia James, she recommends the creation of a commission with representatives across city government to oversee senior NYPD officials, rather than that power resting with the mayor’s office alone. (Reuters)

  • And, because why not: a tropical storm could make landfall in NYC on Friday. (NBC New York)

One reminder: Summer Bridge, an initiative to connect 35,000 NYC youth to paid work and mentorship experiences with local companies in the tech industry and beyond, is enrolling employer partners through July 20. If your company is interested in hosting a cohort of students in August, get more details here and enroll to get involved here.One good, interactive read: I’ve Seen A Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing (New York Times)

Survey

The latest results: In a more reopened NYC, what is the primary way you’re now traveling?

  • 17.4%: Car

  • 8.1%: Subway or bus

  • 18.8%: Bike or scooter

  • 55.7%: Walking

(Note: We first asked this question in the digest on May 21, and at that time, just 0.5 percent of respondents said they were traveling by subway and 6.9 percent were using bikes or scooters. Since then, use of those transit options has proportionally shot way up. Unchanged, most respondents said the primary way they get around is on foot.)

Today’s poll: With NYC making its way through Phase III, and the rest of the state in Phase IV, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have returned to work. But the growing outbreaks across the country are sounding the alarm about the risk of another uptick in New York, calling into question planned office reopening timelines. When do you expect to be able to return to the office?

  • *|SURVEY: I've already returned to the office|*

  • *|SURVEY: This month|*

  • *|SURVEY: After July, but before Labor Day|*

  • *|SURVEY: After Labor Day, but before the end of the year|*

  • *|SURVEY: Not until 2021|*

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

What to Know: Reopening:

  • NYC unveiled its cooling plan for a socially distanced summer, which will include 130 misting stations, 145 cooling centers, and 650 spray showers in city parks. (Gothamist) However, many city beaches remain closed due to lifeguard shortages. (amNY)

  • The Museum of the City of New York is reopening this month — here’s what to expect. (Gothamist)

  • NYC shopping malls, like those in Columbus Circle and Hudson Yards, will likely open later this month, however food courts are not on the menu. (Eater NY)

  • Beginning July 15, Starbucks will make face masks mandatory for customers at all company-operated US locations. (Reuters)

Related reading:

  • Air Travel Is Back to Being an Ordeal (Bloomberg)

  • Britain Plans Incentives to Bring Its Workers Back (New York Times)

What to Know: Return-to-Office:

  • Squarefoot president Michael Colacino predicts that office leases are going to get even more flexible and that satellite offices are going to spring up everywhere. One of the most complicated measures, he says: riding elevators. (Protocol)

Related reading:

  • Office building landlords promise fresh air as worries grow about airborne virus (Crain’s NY)

  • Business groups make nationwide push for masks (The Hill)

One Company to Watch:

STRONGARM TECH

What does your company do?

StrongArm Tech founder and CEO Sean Petterson: StrongArm Tech is the world’s leading safety science company, founded on the mission of keeping the world’s Industrial Athletes™ Proud, Protected and Productive. 

With New York’s reopening ongoing, companies are, of course, thinking about when — and how — to bring their employees back to the workplace. StrongArm has been providing some guidance on that with Newlab’s Return to Work Studio. What is the studio working on, and what insights have you gathered already?

SP: Newlab is an incredible incubator space that’s home to more than 800 entrepreneurs, many of whom were considered essential in the midst of the COVID pandemic. We’re the founding member of Newlab, so when we enhanced our FUSE Risk Management Platform to include COVID response capabilities, it felt only right that we’d team up with them to help their most critical workers get back to work quickly and safely.  By placing our FUSE Sensor on-body at New Lab, we saw proximity-related alerts — that is, instances of two or more workers getting within six feet of each other — decrease by more than 95 percent in just 10 days. 

Request: please let us know as your return-to-office policies are developed and what considerations your companies are taking for developing them. Sharing this information is helpful to companies and employees across the NYC ecosystem and can be kept anonymous.

Reminder: Tech:NYC’s resource guide is now available here and contains a comprehensive list of return-to-office plans published in previous digests.

Recruit: A tech talent and job opportunities board from Tech:NYC and AlleyCorp compiles NYC tech workers looking for new roles and NYC-based tech companies hiring open positions. To contribute to the board, click here.

Events:

  • July 14: Virtual: Tech Ethics: Diversity, Bias, Inequality, & Privacy, with Camber Systems CEO Ian Allen, author Cathy O’Neil, and Join the Bloc CEO Riley Jones IV. Hosted by NYC Media Lab and Bloomberg. (Details)

  • July 16: Virtual: Building the Future with 5G, with Verizon, Ghost Robotics, BP LaunchPad, Walmart’s Store 8. Hosted by Newlab. (Details)

  • July 18: Virtual: Brunchwork at Home, with Atlee Clark, Shopify Director of Partner Platform. Hosted by bruchwork. Use code TEHCNY30 for 30% off. (Details)

  • July 23: Virtual: 2020 Digital New York, with Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and more. Hosted by City & State. (Details)

When In Doubt

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

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