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COVID-19 Digest: October 6

COVID-19 Digest: October 6

October 06, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

COVID-19 Digest

Tuesday, October 6, 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.Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe to get it directly here.

The Latest in New York

The latest: No relief until after elections, Pres. Trump ends stimulus negotiations with Speaker Pelosi; Gov. Cuomo to implement new reopening restrictions in hotspots this week; half of NYC students opted-out of in-person learning, up from about one-third in August; Facebook expands WFH policy, allowing more workers to apply for fully-remote status. Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 466,908 (+1,393)
New York City: 247,452 (+567)
Statewide Fatalities: 25,536 (+9)
Daily NYC Infection Rate: 1.4 percent (-0.1 percent)

General Updates:

In addition to the nine zip codes where schools were closed yesterday due to a seven-day rolling average above three percent, NYC is now monitoring a list of 13 other zip codes of concern where cases are rising and in danger of hitting that threshold. (NBC New York) A zip code that includes South Williamsburg was added to the list today.
Gov. Cuomo announced this afternoon a new plan to determine where and how new restrictions will be implemented in hotspot areas across the state. (New York Times) The plan puts a tiered rubric in place that increasingly restricts various activities — school attendance, indoor and outdoor dining, religious services, and business openings — depending on how much infection rates increase.
Nationwide, case counts are back on the rise, with 34 states now seeing more daily cases than they were a month ago. (Bloomberg)
The White House said it will not trace the contacts of attendees at last weekend’s Rose Garden ceremony to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. (New York Times) That news comes despite the fact that at least 12 people at that ceremony have since tested positive. (New York Times)
Pres. Trump announced stimulus package negotiations will cease until after the Nov. 3 election. (Axios) Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin had ongoing talks over the latest House relief proposal, but there is still much in it that the parties disagree on.
The vice presidential debate scheduled for tomorrow night is still on. Both candidates had agreed to install plexiglass dividers between each of the candidates and the moderator. (POLITICO) But this afternoon, Vice Pres. Pence has rescinded his agreement and requested no divider on his side of the stage. (Washington Post) Relatedly: Pres. Trump, who is still infected and back at the White House, also said he intends to participate in the debate scheduled in Miami for next week. (New York Times)

One opportunity: URBAN-X is accepting applications for its ninth cohort to support startups with solutions to urban challenges, including public health, city infrastructure, energy, mobility, and government technology. Get more details and apply by Oct. 8 here.

One good read: Why This Artist is Paying Bodegas with 120,000 Pennies (New York Times)

Survey

The latest results: The decision to rollback school reopenings in certain NYC neighborhoods experiencing rising COVID cases is the first of its kind since the city shut down in March. Do you think isolated lockdowns are the right strategy?

77.7%: Yes, we should assess rollbacks on a case-by-case basis
15.8%: No, we should implement rollbacks citywide
6.5%: No, we should not implement rollbacks of any kind

Today’s poll: It’s been about one week since indoor dining was reinstated across the city at 25 percent occupancy. Despite cases rising in some neighborhoods, there is no citywide plan to roll back indoor dining, and patrons and restaurateurs alike are reacting positively. Have you dined indoors at a NYC restaurant yet?

*|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve dined indoors|*
*|SURVEY: No, I’ve only dined outdoors|*
*|SURVEY: No, I still haven’t dined at a restaurant at all|*

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

What You Need to Know

What to Know: Reopening:

Late this afternoon, Gov. Cuomo announced plans to implement a rubric for COVID cluster zones marking three different levels of severity: yellow, orange, and red. The rubric is meant to guide what reopening rollbacks will be required in the places receiving those distinctions. Here’s the chart explaining what that plan looks like.
- Which hotspot zip codes correspond to which color has not been released as of late this afternoon.
- Further, it’s unclear if the color-coded zones will correspond to zip codes at all — Gov. Cuomo has said that ordering lockdowns by zip code is too imprecise of a method for classifying hotspots. The state is considering other geographic markers, like census tracts, which are smaller units, as a tool for assigning the color codes.
The details come after Mayor de Blasio doubled down on his proposal this morning to move forward with nonessential businesses closures as early as tomorrow in the nine zip codes where school buildings were closed yesterday. (NY1) Those proposals require state approval, and Gov. Cuomo has proven largely resistant to approving them. (New York Times)
The latest school enrollment numbers, which goes through Oct. 2, now count 503,000 students — half the entire school population — have opted for all-remote learning. (Gothamist) That number has risen from just over 300,000 students in mid-August.