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Tech:NYC Digest: December 21

Tech:NYC Digest: December 21

December 21, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

Monday, December 21, 2020As NYC works through another surge of the coronavirus, the digest focuses on the resources that help you make decisions about your businesses and your lives as New Yorkers.Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

The latest: $900 billion stimulus package approved, Congress plans vote today; the FDA authorized the Moderna vaccine, six million doses start shipping to states; 38,000 vaccinated in New York, distribution set to scale exponentially; new EEOC guidance lets companies restrict return to office based on vaccination status.

Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 857,049 (+9,007)
New York City: 383,811 (+3,338)
Statewide Fatalities: 28,709 (+109)
NYC Positivity Rates:
- NYS reports: 4.3 percent (+0.1 percent)
- NYC reports: 6.0 percent (-0.2 percent)

General Updates:

Nearly one in 200 Americans was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last week, which will likely translate into large numbers of hospitalizations in the coming weeks. (Axios) In New York, there continue to be incremental increases in the number of new hospital admissions, though when factoring in the number of discharges, it’s remained less overwhelming than in other parts of the country.
The FDA granted emergency use authorization to the Moderna vaccine on Friday night, greenlighting the shipment of six million doses throughout the US. (NBC News) Those shipments, which include 346,000 doses for New York, are expected in states today. (Washington Post) They come one week into the Pfizer vaccine distribution in New York, where the program is off to an encouraging, if slow, start, and will quickly scale beginning this week. (New York Times) More on that below.
Congress (finally!) reached a deal on the next stimulus package and will vote on it today. (Washington Post) The package includes $248 billion in reauthorized PPP loans, $25 billion in rental assistance, enhanced unemployment benefits, and $600 direct payments to Americans, subject to the same income phaseouts as the CARES Act in which the payments will be reduced for earnings above $75,000. (CBS News) It does not include funding earmarked for state and local aid.
Here’s what that means for New York. (THE CITY):
- New York is expected to receive approximately $50 billion in total through the package. (New York Daily News) That includes $4 billion in aid for the MTA, an additional $300 per week for eleven weeks for the one million New Yorkers receiving unemployment benefits, and a similar extension of pandemic unemployment assistance for gig workers, freelancers, and those working on contracts. It also includes a share of $15 billion for performance venues and other cultural institutions.
- New York will receive a share of the $248 billion allocated for another round of PPP loans. Those loans will be available to new applicants and businesses that participated in the initial round through the CARES Act. It also expands PPP eligibility to include nonprofit organizations.
- The bill also extends the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which provides tax credits to businesses with fewer than 500 employees to fund paid sick leave for workers who test positive for COVID-19 and/or are under quarantine. (Inc.)
A heads up if you’re planning to get a coronavirus test over the holidays: NYC Health + Hospitals testing sites are closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and closing at 2pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. (More info)

One last call: Tech:NYC, in partnership with New Stand, is collecting insights from employees in tech companies about their office reopening plans (or lack thereof). Please help by taking a short three minute survey here. As a thank you, you’ll be sent a 30 percent off code for anything in the New Stand shop. Happy holidays!

One good read: ICYMI: Our annual report looks back at everything Tech:NYC, alongside its 800 members, accomplished in this unprecedented and uncertain year. Find it here.

The latest results: With the impending snow storm, Mayor de Blasio said, because of remote learning, snow days are a “thing of the past” and tomorrow would go on as a day of virtual instruction for all students. What do you think schools should do tomorrow?

Today's poll

: As we head into the holiday break, this is the last poll we’ll send out in 2020. And to 2020,

we say good riddance

. Thanks in large part to the essential workers who kept the grocery shelves stocked and the healthcare workers who fought on the front lines all year, we’re exiting this year with a view of the light at the end of the tunnel. What are you most looking forward to when we get to the other side in 2021?

*|SURVEY: Getting the vaccine|*
*|SURVEY: Zooming less|*
*|SURVEY: Sitting in a bar and/or dining in a restaurant|*
*|SURVEY: Seeing a movie or a show in a theater|*
*|SURVEY: The Biden administration|*
*|SURVEY: All of the above|*

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

Reopening:

The US didn’t see the expected surge specifically attributed to Thanksgiving gatherings or travel, particularly in Northeast states, but experts say the case counts in most of the country were already high and may have been masked by the larger pattern of COVID-19 spreading across the country. (BuzzFeed News) Dr. Fauci warned, because the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season is longer, we may face a bigger challenge in containing exposure.
38,000 people have received the vaccine across New York State so far, but now with more confirmed information on shipment timelines and dosage availability, hospitals are expected to quickly scale the program in the coming weeks. (New York Post)
- More than 346,000 Moderna doses and an additional 120,000 Pfizer doses will be arriving this week, bringing the state’s supply to about 630,000 doses.
- That’s enough to expand which priority groups may begin receiving it: health center workers, EMTs, medical examiners, funeral home workers, and other congregate care workers and residents will be eligible beginning this week.
- The federal nursing home vaccination program also begins this week, where all residents and staff will receive both doses in rotating cycles over the next six weeks.
- The CDC has released recommendations that, after healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents, the next priority group should be other frontline workers and people aged 75 and older. (New York Times)
New variants of the coronavirus are being recorded by scientists in Britain and South Africa, in part prompting the latest lockdown measures in those places. (New York Times) But scientists are also saying it is premature to sound the alarm already, because a virus needs several years to collect enough mutations to be able to escape immunity, a point by which mass vaccinations will give new strains virtually no ability to spread widely.
Nonetheless, that new strain adds onto the ongoing surge of COVID-19 in the UK, putting most of the country into another full lockdown. (ABC News)
- At least 120 countries are now requiring travelers from the UK to have a negative test before boarding a plane heading inside their borders, and more than 30 have banned UK travelers completely. (New York Times)
- No decision has been made at the federal level for the US to join that list, so Gov. Cuomo is asking the three airlines that come into NYC airports from the UK — British Airways, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic — to add New York State to the list of countries requiring pre-boarding tests before they are permitted to come to the state. (New York Daily News)
NYC’s public hospital system has suspended elective surgeries to free up space for an influx of patients as coronavirus-related hospitalizations continue to rise. (New York Post)
And a little news you (car owners out there) can use: alternate side parking is suspended through Dec. 26. Meters are still in effect, except for Christmas Day.