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Tech:NYC Digest: December 3

Tech:NYC Digest: December 3

December 03, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Thursday, December 3, 2020As NYC’s reopening and recovery efforts continue, 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: National daily deaths hit new high, CDC director predicts 450,000 total by February; NYC making plans for 480,000 vaccine doses in January; slimmed stimulus funding seems feasible in short Senate session; Google pilots outdoor in-person meetings in phased return-to-office plan.

Confirmed Cases

New York State: 674,093 (+9,855)
New York City: 321,053 (+3,307)
Statewide Fatalities: 26,955 (+61)
NYC Positivity Rates:
- NYS reports: 3.6 percent (+0.3 percent)
- NYC reports: 5.2 percent (+0.4 percent)

General Updates:

The US has now topped 14 million cases, and for the first time since the pandemic began, there are now at least 100,000 people currently hospitalized due to COVID-19. That’s nearly double the peak from the first wave in the spring. (Axios) In New York, the hospitalization rate is the highest it's been since late May, climbing to above 4,000 patients, up more than 120 percent over the last three weeks. (NBC New York)
The number of single-day coronavirus deaths reached 2,760 deaths yesterday, the highest since the pandemic began. (New York Times) CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield warned the winter months will be “the most difficult time in the public health history” in the US, predicting 450,000 total deaths by February. (New York Times)
Gov. Cuomo said he expects 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be available statewide on Dec. 15, pending federal approval, and Mayor de Blasio anticipates another 480,000 doses for the city in early January. (New York Times) By the end of the year, Pfizer aims to produce 25 million doses for the US market, and Moderna expects to produce 20 million doses. Combined, that equates to roughly 22.5 million Americans who can be vaccinated by year’s end, since Pfizer’s requires two doses.
- As hospitals prepare to receive the first batch of doses, New York State and NYC will have considerable discretion in prioritizing who gets them first. Gov. Cuomo said, in line with CDC recommendation, that nursing home staff and residents and frontline healthcare workers will be first, followed by other frontline essential workers, medically high risk individuals, and individuals over 65.
- The New York Times has a neat interactive to show you how far back in line you may be in getting the vaccine. (New York Times) You’re probably further back than our last three presidents, who plan to get their shots on camera to ensure public trust in the vaccine. (NPR)
And if you’re planning to get a test soon, an Instagram engineer took NYC’s tool showing wait times at testing sites and made a nice, user-friendly map version! Find it here.

One fun read: Giphy’s Most Viewed GIFs of 2020 (GIPHY)

Yesterday's results: The latest update from the CDC shortens its guidance for how long someone should quarantine after coming in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Does this new guidance change any of your holiday travel plans?

Today's poll

: With

long lines at testing sites

across the city and to help accommodate the holiday demand surge, the city opened 25 more testing sites and has begun

posting wait times online

to encourage people to try less crowded locations.

At-home tests

have also become more widely available. When was the last time you received a coronavirus test? (Not counting antibody tests.)

*|SURVEY: In the last week|*
*|SURVEY: In the last month|*
*|SURVEY:In the last 1 to 3 months|*
*|SURVEY: In the last 3 to 6 months|*
*|SURVEY: I have not been tested|*

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

Reopening:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threw their support behind the bipartisan $908 billion stimulus proposal as the basis for ongoing negotiations with GOP leadership. (CNBC) Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released his own “skinny” version of stimulus he’d like to use as the framework, with a price tag at around $500 billion. (Axios)
- The bipartisan proposal includes aid for local and state governments, unemployment insurance, and more funding for the PPP small business loan program, but it does not include another round of direct payments to Americans.
- Gov. Cuomo today called for the $908 billion proposal to move forward as a “first down payment” of stimulus before Christmas. (New York Daily News)
Some are warning that, without more transparent information about an eventual vaccine’s side effects, people may feel deterred from taking it. (Washington Post) But experts have said the side effects reported are minor, standard reactions across many types of vaccines and are no reason to avoid getting the shots.
Following the tree lighting ceremony yesterday, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is open to visitors, but with a few rules. (NBC New York) The plaza where the tree is physically located will be closed, but specific tree viewing zones are set up on the blocks on either side. Visitors also will have to join a virtual line by scanning a QR code and receive a text message when it's their turn to move into the viewing zone.