COVID-19 Digest: March 18

COVID-19 Digest: March 18

March 18, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Wednesday, March 18, 2020Tech:NYC’s COVID-19 resource guide is available here. It’s updated daily with the latest info from across the NYC tech sector.Email us at [email protected] with anything you’d like to see included in an upcoming email or with other feedback. Please share this with your networks and encourage your colleagues to sign up here.

The Latest in New York

The latest: Tax day reprieve; Congress passes a stimulus package; many NY businesses must reduce in-office workforce; a hospital ship on the way to New York Harbor; how to care for and talk to older family members and friends.Confirmed Cases: 

  • New York State: 2,382 (+1,008)

  • New York City: 1,339 (+695)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 20 (+8)

Note: This single-day spike in cases is likely correlated, at least in part, to increased testing.

General Updates:

  • The April 15 tax payment deadline will be postponed for most Americans, giving them an extra 90 days to pay their tax income bills. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Gov. Cuomo says that NY needs to increase its hospital bed count by 50,000 (CNN). To account for a portion of that, a U.S. Navy hospital ship will dock in New York Harbor to take 1,000 new patients. (Forbes) There’s plenty of  interesting (and unnerving) data on this challenge. (ProPublica) 

  • Both houses of congress passed a $1 trillion stimulus package, which the President is expected to sign. It still wouldn’t proportionally match the emergency government spending of France, Germany, and Spain. $500 billion of that package is earmarked for direct payments to individuals. (New York Times)

  • Gov. Cuomo announced he will issue an executive order directing non-essential businesses to decrease their in-office workforce by 50 percent effective Friday. The Executive Order, yet to be issued, will exempt essential services, food, pharmacies, healthcare, shipping, supplies, and more. (Twitter)

What You Need to Know

NEW EMPLOYER UPDATES (for the full list, see our resource guide):

  • Artsy: all offices globally are closed and employees are required to WFH.

  • Blissfully: mandatory WFH for all employees.

  • Google: moved to “strongly recommending” employees WFH.

  • WayUp: offices in NYC and Montreal are closed; all employees are WFH. 

  • Zillow: NYC office is now closed and all employees are WFH.

  • Request: please let us know if you are instituting mandatory, optional, or other work-from-home policies. Sharing this information is helpful to companies and employees across the NYC ecosystem and can be kept anonymous. 

WORKPLACE TOOLS:

  • Blissfully: a free e-book, SaaS Spend Optimization Guide, with recommendations on managing fluctuating IT costs; also offering fellow NYC companies free SaaS audits and personal consultations on SaaS savings, if interested, get in touch here.

  • Cooley: a resource hub for businesses on the legal, regulatory, and commercial implications of COVID-19; being updated daily.

  • MNDFL Meditation: offering donation-based Instagram Live classes you can do from home; five sessions are scheduled for tomorrow, March 19th.

  • Notion: a Wiki page of curated remote work policies designed to bring together the most actionable advice.

  • One data tool request: NYC Council Member Stephen Levin is looking for data experts who have ideas on real time indicators that can measure the effectiveness of social distancing measures in NYC. If that’s you, shoot us a note and we can connect you. You can also join the conversations already happening on at this Slack channel for technologists looking to support efforts in NYC.

  • Read: This story about a group of rafters who spent 25 days in the Grand Canyon is wild: “They Went Off the Grid. They Came Back to the Coronavirus.” (New York Times)

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

 

EVENTS:

  • March 19: Virtual: Why It Matters: Coronavirus and Pandemic Preparedness. Hosted by Axios. (Details)

  • March 19: Webinar: How Engineering Teams Can Thrive With or Without the Office. Hosted by Andela. (Details)

  • March 19: Virtual: How to be a High-Functioning Remote Team Member — From a Remote Boss. Hosted by PowerToFly. (Details)

  • March 24 – 26: Virtual: Industries Forum 2020: What Does the Future of Your Industry Look Like? Hosted by SAP. (Details)

  • March 24: Virtual: Healthtech, the FDA and What Startups Need to Know. Hosted by VentureOut. (Details)

  • March 26: Tech:NYC Virtual Book Club: Golden Gates with Conor Doughterty. (RSVP for login instructions)

POLICY UPDATES:

  • Gov. Cuomo reaffirmed that he will not approve a shelter in place order, saying that the panic does not match the reality of the situation. (City & State) NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was quick to counter, echoing sentiments we’ve heard from Mayor de Blasio (Tweet; Broadcast). 

  • New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey will temporarily close all indoor portions of retail shopping malls, amusement parks and bowling alleys. (Twitter) As a related aside, isn’t it great to see these states working so closely together? 

  • Trump ordered the border with Canada partly closed. (NPR)

SCHOOLS:

  • NYC public schools: working to make internet-enabled iPads and other remote learning devices available for any student who needs one. To make a request, click here. (NYCDOE)

Caring for your parents and older loved ones:

  • Convincing boomer parents to take the coronavirus seriously. (The New Yorker) A piece that resonated with many of us!

  • Experts explain the best ways to communicate with a (perhaps stubborn) older loved one about the risks of COVID-19. (CNBC)

  • Tips for keeping grandparents safe during the coronavirus pandemic. (Forbes)

  • More than 1 million people live in nursing homes, and another 800,000 call residential care communities home. If they’re barring visitors out of precaution, the best thing you can do is respect the rules. (Washington Post)

  • One caveat: older individuals aren’t always the most susceptible; some reports indicate that millennials aren’t taking social distancing measures seriously and are at a more severe risk for catching the virus. (New York Post) So to give them the same tip we give to older folks: stay home.

Stress relief tweet of day:

When In Doubt

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