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COVID-19 Digest: May 27

COVID-19 Digest: May 27

May 27, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Wednesday, May 27, 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: NYC Health Committee releases socializing risk guide; breakdown of preventative contact tracing; NYS Senate back in session; whiskey, on the rocks, with a twist…and in a to-go cup: New York’s new cocktail culture. Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 364,965 (+1,129)
New York City: 199,986 (+667)
Statewide Fatalities: 23,643 (+74)

General Updates:

Gov. Cuomo travelled to Washington today and spoke with Pres. Trump about New York’s infrastructure goals and the need for further federal funding. (NY State of Politics)
Coronavirus patients in NYC can now request isolated hotel rooms by calling the city’s coronavirus hotline. (POLITICO)
City Councilman and Health Committee chairman Mark Levine released a guide that measures risk for different social activities. The lowest risk activities are walks and picnics with friends, and the highest is an indoor party. (City & State)
The New York City budget deficit ticked up to $9 billion. Mayor de Blasio reemphasized the city’s need for federal aid and called on Albany lawmakers to give NYC more borrowing authority. (amNY)
With all regions (minus NYC) entering phase one of reopening, when does phase two begin? Gov. Cuomo previously said there would be a two-week buffer, meaning some states could start this Friday but so far there’s been no state guidance. (Democrat & Chronicle)

One cool read you can scroll quickly: 54 ways coronavirus has changed the world (New York Times)

Survey

Thursday's results: As of now, do you feel comfortable taking advantage of the new gathering rules of 10 people or less and gathering in small groups?

40.7%: Yes
59.3%: No

Today’s poll: We may not be back to “normal” until there is a vaccine or an effective treatment for COVID-19, which we’ve been told is at least a year away, likely longer. Officials instead have touted contact tracing, which is starting to come online now, as the infection-fighting tool that will raise public spirits. Do you think robust contact tracing will be enough to boost your confidence in ending stay-at-home orders and social isolation?

*|SURVEY: Yes|*
*|SURVEY: No|*

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

Tracking viral spread now to stop infections later:

As New York begins reopening, it’s more important than ever that it ramps up measures to proactively help people who could be exposed and prevent a second wave of infections. The plan? Contact tracing:

Before a couple of months ago, contact tracing was a term known by few outside of epidemiologists, but New York’s contact tracing programs require large-scale coordination by state, city, and county health departments, government officials, and other program experts — and buy-in from ordinary residents. (Gothamist)
That’s why contract tracing is harder than it sounds — just because tracers get trained and are armed with telephone headsets and scripts doesn’t mean people will want to talk to them, much less follow their advice. (New York Times)
But Gov. Cuomo is reminding residents that simple steps like answering those phone calls are critical to moving beyond the pandemic. People that could have been exposed will receive calls from “NYS Contact Tracing,” which are private and confidential. (NYS)
Meanwhile, tech is being developed to help contact tracers: Apple and Google announced last month they were building software to help health departments make contact tracing apps, but they aren’t making the apps themselves. (Vox)
At the state level:
- Gov. Cuomo’s reopening plan includes a metric that requires the state’s regions to have a minimum of 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 people. It’s then up to local public health agencies to hire them. (NYS)
- Bloomberg Philanthropies is partnering with the state to build the tracing program, offering assistance in four areas: online training, technical support, recruitment, and evaluation. (Cheddar)
At the city level:
- NYC is partnering with Salesforce to build its contact tracing program. The program will deploy a call center as well as a new case management system help track potential cases and isolate people before they become sick. (CNBC)
- The city has hired 1,700 contact tracers to begin work on June 1, with the aim of having 2,500 hired by the middle of June. The city is also expecting that coronavirus testing will ramp up to 50,000 per day by August 1. (POLITICO)
In order to meet their tracing and testing goals, NYC combined with the state are looking to hire as many as 17,000 contact tracers. (NPR) To put that in perspective, at the beginning of the outbreak, there were 2,200 full-time contact tracers operating in the entire U.S. (ASTHO)
To meet the demand, quickly scaling training is key:
- An online course built by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which is available for free to anyone who wants to take it, is a prerequisite to becoming a tracer in New York. (ABC News) It’s a crash course on a mix of virology, epidemiology, medical ethics, privacy, and interview techniques. (WIRED)
- Otherwise, becoming a tracer doesn’t require a background in health care or medical expertise (although they certainly help). More important to the job: interpersonal skills and empathy. (CBS News)
- The course is hosted by online learning platform Coursera, which announced that in its first week, 22,000 people had been trained. (Coursera)
- So you want to become one? Here’s a snapshot of what the job — and the pay — is like. (New York Times)
As always, look to official New York State resources and CDC guidance for the most up to date information.

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:

Google is planning to begin reopening offices on July 6, initially making use of approximately 10 percent of building capacity. Those who wish to continue WFH will be able to do so and will be allowed to expense up to $1,000 for necessary equipment and office furniture.