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COVID-19 Digest: May 12

COVID-19 Digest: May 12

May 12, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Tuesday, May 12, 2020Please 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.Tech:NYC’s resource guide includes information on government resources for businesses, new health tracking and treatment tools, and a new section with return-to-office preparedness plans and resources. It will be updated regularly.

The Latest in New York

The latest: House Speaker Pelosi proposes $3 trillion new relief bill; experts testified before lawmakers in Washington, we breakdown how America’s peers have responded to COVID; Twitter announced eternal WFH; music during and after COVID.Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 338,485 (+1,430)
New York City: 186,123 (+766)
Statewide Fatalities: 21,845 (+195)

General Updates:

The HEROES Act (aka the CARES Act 2.0) was unveiled by House Democrats today with a $3 trillion price tag. A vote on the bill is expected Friday. (AP) Republicans have already signaled that it will not pass the Senate. (CNN)
In NYC, 52 children have now been diagnosed with the rare inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus. (POLITICO) Across the whole state, approximately 100 cases are being investigated. (New York Times)
Broadway shows will remain dark through the summer, now offering ticket refunds and exchanges through September 6. (Playbill)
A federal judge ordered Gov. Cuomo to broadcast an ASL interpreter during his daily briefings after a disability rights advocacy group sued the administration. (NBC New York)
One thing to help our neighbors: a new report by our friends at the Center for an Urban Future reveals that a growing number of NYC human services nonprofits are being hit with huge financial losses exactly at the time we need them most. (CUF)

One must read: Bartering it back: when life gives you lemons, trade them for hand sanitizer. (Washington Post)

Survey

Yesterday's results: When do you think NYC will successfully meet all the benchmarks to reopen?

17.4%: Next month
36.8%: By the end of summer
26.7%: In the fall
19%: The end of the year or later

Today’s poll: Since the outbreak, both business and personal travel have all but disappeared. When would you be comfortable traveling for the first time again?

*|SURVEY: In the next month|*
*|SURVEY: By the end of summer|*
*|SURVEY: In the fall|*
*|SURVEY: The end of the year or later|*

Find the poll results from all previous editions of this newsletter here. If you have a question you’d like to ask the broader community in this newsletter, send us your ideas and we’ll try to include them!

What You Need to Know

Global Reopening:

Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health experts (virtually) went to the Hill today to address a Senate committee hearing on the coronavirus outbreak. (Washington Post) All eyes are on what the U.S. national strategy will be to get people safely back to work and school, with several lawmakers drawing comparisons to the response plans other countries have enacted.

Here’s an updated roundup of where things stand in other hotspots across the world. The topline takeaway: the outbreak might feel under control now, but without long-term safety measures, it won’t remain that way. A second wave of infections is already threatening global progress:

Across Europe, lockdowns are being lifted. (BBC) Businesses are reopening, and schools have welcomed back students, even as there are concerns over how contagious children are and whether they will be the next viral spreaders. (New York Times)
- U.K.: unveiled a roadmap of staggered steps this week to lift the lockdown, establishing a five-level alert system to monitor flare-ups and advising on how strict social distancing measures need to be. (NBC News)
- France: tiptoed out of its lockdown yesterday, allowing non-essential shops and businesses to open for the first time in eight weeks. (Reuters) Residents will no longer have to show documentation to leave the house, although longer trips will still require a “permission slip” for approved work or family reasons. (France24)
- Germany: announced a nationwide relaxation of restrictions last week, even entertaining the possibility of allowing travel abroad for summer holidays. (BBC) But just days after easing the lockdown, new infections are once again on the rise and many regions are pulling the “emergency brake” to return to lockdown conditions. (Business Insider)
Parts of Asia have been seen as the most successful in containing the outbreak, allowing relaxed restrictions without seeing a resurgence in new cases. (CNBC) Some places are even reopening global travel, a valuable opportunity for the rest of the world to learn from their experience. (TIME)
- South Korea: took dramatic social distancing and surveillance steps that had effectively contained their outbreak within a month. (The Atlantic) But this weekend, a new cluster of infections emerged in Seoul, renewing the country’s restrictions for the time being. (CNN) The new flare-up is linked to nightclubs in one of the capital city’s districts. (TIME)
- China: the city of Wuhan, once the global epicenter of the pandemic, recorded no new cases since early April and schools, businesses, and public transit had resumed operations. (BBC) But this past weekend, six new infections emerged, all from the same housing complex, and the government is now planning to test all 11 million residents of the city. (BuzzFeed News)
Even when countries across the world have more fully stabilized, the way we travel, especially across borders, will likely be forever changed. (New York Times)

RETURN-TO-OFFICE PLANS:

As New York plans its reopening, so too are companies forming their return-to-office strategies. In addition to following federal guidelines, here are more company updates on their current plans:

Twitter informed employees that they could work from home in perpetuity. In addition, Twitter has said it is unlikely they would open its offices before September and that all in-person events would be canceled for the remainder of the year. The company will assess its plans for 2021 events later this year.