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COVID-19 Digest: October 14

COVID-19 Digest: October 14

October 14, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Wednesday, October 14, 2020As NYC’s reopening and recovery efforts continue, the digest will focus on the resources that help you make decisions about your businesses and your lives as New Yorkers.

Download COVID Alert NY, the new exposure notification app built by the New York State Dept. of Health and Tech:NYC, here.

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The Latest in New York

The latest: Infection rates in NYC hotspots begin to stabilize; Census forms due 6am this Friday; most NYC public school students are fully remote; Dropbox becomes virtual first.Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 477,940 (+1,232)
New York City: 251,766 (+464)
Statewide Fatalities: 25,605 (+7)
Daily NYC Infection Rate: 1.2 percent (-0.1 percent)

General Updates:

Mayor de Blasio said the restrictions put in place in hotspot zones seem to be working, with those zones seeing a “leveling off” of new infection rates. (POLITICO)
But Gov. Cuomo said today that social distancing enforcement remains inadequate in these places, and warned that he will withhold state funding for local governments and schools if enforcement isn’t improved. (Bloomberg)
Three states — Ohio, Michigan, and Virginia — were added back to New York’s travel advisory requiring travelers from those places to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. (NYS) The full list, which now includes 38 states and territories, is available here.
Scientists confirmed the first-known case of coronavirus reinfection is the US, in a 25-year-old man. (NPR) It’s just the fifth confirmed reinfection case worldwide, and while real, reinfections are very, very rare. (New York Times)
In place of what was supposed to be the second presidential debate tomorrow, Pres. Trump will now participate in a town-hall meeting at the same time VP Joe Biden will appear in a separate one. (CNN)
A ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon will allow census collection efforts to end early. (NPR) Census forms must now be submitted by this Friday, Oct. 16, at 6am. If you haven’t already, take ten minutes to complete the form here.

One opportunity: NYC BLEND, a program that gives underrepresented founders access to top-tier VCs, is accepting applications for its second cohort. Founders that have launched a product and raised at least $50,000 from any source are eligible to apply. Get more details and apply here by October 15.

One good read: The four companies known as Big Tech — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google — now have more than 22,000 employees in the city, with thousands added just this year. (New York Times)

Survey

The latest results: There is growing consensus that summer 2021 is the earliest many workers will return to their offices fulltime. When do you expect to be back in the office?

1.2%: Before the end of the year
51.8%: By summer 2021
22.6%: By the end of 2021 or later
9.8%: I’m already back in the office
14.6%: I plan to work from home permanently

(Of note: we asked the same question around this time in July, and at that point, confidence in a return to the office by the end of the year was noticeably higher, at 30.2 percent. Expectations in a 2021 return increased from 61.5 percent to 74.4 percent, while those reporting they’ve returned to the office rose only about 3 percentage points.) Today’s poll: As more companies extend their remote work plans farther into 2021, subway ridership remains low, with a new report issuing a fresh warning of subway and rail service cuts and fare increases without federal aid. How often are you now taking the subway?

*|SURVEY: Daily|*
*|SURVEY: One or more times weekly|*
*|SURVEY: One or more times monthly|*
*|SURVEY: I’m already back in the office|*
*|SURVEY: I still have not returned to the subway since the PAUSE order|*

Find the poll results from all previous editions of this newsletter here.

What You Need to Know

What to Know: Reopening:

City officials are days away from officially signing permanent outdoor dining into law, but guidance on the logistics of how it will work in winter months has yet to be released. (Crain’s NY) In particular: restaurant owners need updates on what kind of heaters they can use and what options they have when the weather is bad.
More than half of NYC public schools students — 52 percent — have opted for fully-remote instruction instead of the blended model with some in-person, a slight uptick from earlier in the month. (Gothamist)
High-end meal kits are here to stay: would you spend $275 for a chicken dinner you cook yourself? (Bloomberg)