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COVID-19 Digest: May 21

COVID-19 Digest: May 21

May 21, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Thursday, May 21, 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: Analysts say 15,000 fewer deaths had NYC shutdown a week earlier; planes, trains, and automobiles: New Yorkers on the move; Facebook will shift half of its workforce to remote; BBQuarantining over the long weekend.Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 356,458 (+2,088)
New York City: 195,675 (+1,125)
Statewide Fatalities: 23,083 (+105)

General Updates:

Even as restrictions on businesses began lifting across the United States, another 2.4 million workers filed for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total to 38 million. (New York Times)
The rare coronavirus-related syndrome affecting children has spread to 25 states plus Washington D.C. and 13 other countries. The Dept. of Health is investigating 157 cases in New York. (NBC New York) It appears that young adults are also affected. (Washington Post)
There will be no in-person summer school in New York, all conducted via distance learning instead. (NY State of Politics)
Two Westchester County beaches — Playland Park and Croton Point Park — will open tomorrow for county residents only and with reduced capacity. (USA Today)
New data shows that lockdown delays resulted in nearly 36,000 more deaths nationally. If NYC had implemented social distancing measures one week sooner, analysts estimated there would’ve been roughly 15,000 fewer deaths. (New York Times)
Germany and Russia are requesting the UN partially reopen its NYC headquarters and implement health safety guidelines for staffers. (Bloomberg)

One opportunity: The Tech Talent Pipeline Residency Program is looking for Summer 2020 engineering internship hosts for CUNY Computer Science students. At no cost to the employer, students will work for 35 hours per week during their summer semester at a wage subsidized by the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline. Interested companies can reach out here.One harrowing (and hyperlocal) read: After a snapping turtle in Central Park killed a mallard mom, Urban Park Rangers set to work rescuing the abandoned ducklings. (West Side Rag)

Survey

Yesterday's results: Do you think professional sports can come back safely this summer?

9.0%: Yes
58.3%: Yes, but only in empty venues with no fans
15.2%: No, not yet
17.5%: No, this year’s seasons should just be cancelled

Today’s poll: Quarantine fatigue is setting in, and with the warmer weather, people are cautiously getting out more. When you’ve needed to go out — be it for essential errands or just some fresh air — what is the primary way you have been traveling during New York’s PAUSE order?

*|SURVEY: Car|*
*|SURVEY: Subway or bus|*
*|SURVEY: Bike or scooter|*
*|SURVEY: Walking|*

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

How New Yorkers Are Getting Around:

Driving down thoroughfares prone to standstills has become eerily easy. Traffic data shows that the number of cars passing through the city’s tunnels and toll bridges was cut in half between March and May. (New York Times)
But it’s starting to pick back up: already drivers are experiencing more traffic than a month ago, with more people venturing out of quarantine but still wary of public transportation. (New York Post)
- An increasing number of New Yorkers are considering car ownership for their post-pandemic daily lives. (Motherboard)
- For those who need to get around but don’t own a car, Uber, Lyft, Via, and other ride sharing cars are still on the roads — just without the sharing. They have all temporarily eliminated pooled or shared rides until the pandemic subsides. (New York Daily News) And essential workers are relying on the ride shares to get them back and forth, which the city pays for, while the subway is shut down for its nightly cleaning. (NY1)
- But experts warn that, even after the pandemic subsides, more people will opt to travel by car, citing them as a safer alternative and creating traffic levels even worse than before the pandemic. (NY1)
The possibility of more cars on the road has also refocused attention on the city’s congestion pricing plan:
- Slated to go into effect at the start of 2021, the pandemic has put the federal review process on the backburner, with no signs it will be completed in time for the system’s expected launch. (New York Daily News)
- But the plan is more critical than ever: it’s meant to fund a range of improvements to public transit infrastructure — ones we need now. (New York Daily News)
Tolling data from the state’s Thruway Authority also provides a peek into life under stay-at-home orders: commercial traffic has decreased only slightly, but pleasure trips have plummeted. (POLITICO)
It’s no surprise that subway ridership levels remain low. But that’s also beginning to pick up: yesterday, MTA officials reported that daily subway ridership hit its highest point since March, inching above 600,000. (New York Daily News)
- As city reopening measures grow nearer, transit officials are piloting a number of measures in anticipation of straphangers’ return: reserved seating, staggered “A” and “B" train cars, and new fever identification tools in stations. (New York Post) You might also get blasted by a UV light lamp when you get on board. (Gothamist)
- Another idea being floated: ordering businesses to stagger work hours to moderate rush hour crowding and prevent spread of the disease on the subways. (Reuters)
E-scooter services have been hit hard by the pandemic, and some urban planners are proposing public funding for bikes and scooters as an idea that simultaneously keeps them afloat and helps fill the gap in train and bus cuts. (CityLab)
You’re probably noticing more people on bikes: many are taking to biking, both for exercise and running errands, as a safer alternative to public transit where social distancing is still a challenge. (Streetsblog)
- There’s been a surge in demand for them, so much so that there’s a shortage in many parts of the country and lines for bike repair shops regularly snake down the block. (New York Times)
- Some are pushing for the city to do what it can to incentivize bike transit post-COVID. One idea: dedicated bike and scooter highways. (New York Daily News)
The pandemic is forcing cities to rethink their landscapes, even considering revamping street use to create more long-term space for socially distant pedestrians and cyclists. (Axios) To that point, today the National Association of City Transportation Officials released a set of emerging practices to guide transit and street design strategies under the “new normal.” (NATCO)
Here’s a thorough update on ongoing service changes for the subway, LIRR, ferries, and other public transit. (Curbed)

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 some updates on company plans:

Facebook announced that it will permanently shift tens of thousands of jobs to remote work. Mark Zuckerberg shared via a public livestream that up to half of its 48,000 employees could work remotely within five to ten years. Zuckerberg said he expects to move slowly toward remote work, but would begin by making more of the company’s open roles available to remote workers. (The Verge; Wall Street Journal)