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Tech:NYC Digest: December 4

Tech:NYC Digest: December 4

December 04, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Friday, December 4, 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: CDC asks Americans to stay put for holidays, advises regular testing for those that travel; California reinstates strict measures to curb rapid COVID spread; NYC Council convened on vaccine distribution plan, adds shelters and jails to top priority; city expands rent relief program eligibility as $60 million remains undistributed.

Confirmed Cases

New York State: 685,364 (+11,271)
New York City: 324,650 (+3,597)
Statewide Fatalities: 27,017 (+60)
NYC Positivity Rates:
- NYS reports: 3.9 percent (+0.3 percent)
- NYC reports: 5.4 percent (+0.2 percent)

General Updates:

As with the Thanksgiving holiday, updated CDC guidance is imploring Americans to avoid travel during the upcoming holidays. But if you are traveling, the agency recommends getting a test three days before the trip, and again three to five days afterward. (AP)
- That guidance mirrors New York’s own travel guidance, which now requires three days of quarantine upon completion of a trip if you receive a negative test result upon return. Here’s a reminder of those requirements.
The CDC is now, for the first time, also recommending that Americans wear a mask even indoors, when they’re outside their own home. (Bloomberg)
California has returned to some of its strictest measures since the spring, including several regional stay-at-home orders where store capacity will be strictly limited, restaurants must return to takeout and delivery only, and other nonessential businesses may be closed. (New York Times) The new measures will be in effect for at least three weeks.
President-elect Biden said that, on Inauguration Day, he plans to ask all Americans to wear face masks for the first 100 days of his presidency. (Axios) He also has confirmed Dr. Fauci will stay in his role as director of the NIAID and serve as a chief medical adviser to the Biden administration.
The first Pfizer doses arrived in the UK today, after officials approved the vaccine for use there. First priority is being given to individuals over 80 years and to nursing home caregivers. (Washington Post) A total of 800,000 doses are expected to arrive in Britain this month.
- If you’re curious about how many doses major countries have purchased or plan to purchase, here’s a useful chart.
And not to make you feel bad, but you have the same amount of hours in the day as Dr. Fauci.

One new initiative: Tech:NYC is joining forces with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and Association for a Better New York (ABNY) to ensure that all NYC public school students learning remotely have the devices and technology support they need to stay on track. Our own Julie Samuels will discuss the initiative with UFT president Michael Mulgrew and ABNY CEO Melva Miller on Dec. 9 — register to join us here, and if you or your company is interested in getting more involved, let us know here and we’ll be in touch with next steps!One good read: A cross-section of leading business, economic, and policy leaders share their best idea for building back America (New York Times)

Yesterday's results: 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?

Today's poll

: President-elect Biden said that he will call on all Americans to

don masks during the first 100 days

of his presidency. While not an official mandate, the hope is that a more consistent national mask strategy will increase usage in areas that have been less compliant. Heading into those first 100 days and beyond, how much do you expect mask wearing to continue to be a part of our public life?

*|SURVEY: We will continue wearing masks through summer 2021|*
*|SURVEY: We will continue wearing masks through the end of 2021|*
*|SURVEY: We will continue wearing masks beyond 2021|*

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

Reopening:

Gov. Cuomo announced more plans for how he intends to prioritize the initial shipment of vaccine doses to New York and who will get them first. (New York Times) He has repeatedly indicated nursing home staff and residents as well as frontline healthcare workers will be first, followed by other essential workers. But those categories alone encompass millions of people across the state — far greater than we’ll have doses for in the coming month.
- The guidance released by Gov. Cuomo last month includes a “vaccine prioritization matrix,” which you can find here.
- Who counts as an “essential worker” also encompasses a lot of categories, and in the state’s plan, some of them are in the matrix’s Phase 2. That includes first responders, school staff, and frontline workers that interact with the public (pharmacists, transit employees, etc.)
- All other essential workers are in the matrix’s Phase 4. Those categories are defined by an executive order and listed in full here.
The NYC Council’s Health and Hospitals Committee held a hearing this morning on the city’s vaccine distribution plan. The NYC Health Commissioner echoed Cuomo’s priority levels, but also added that people in congregate settings like jails and shelters will be included in the first phase. (ABC New York)
New York allocated $100 million in rental assistance to residents back in May, but under the original eligibility parameters, only $40 million was disbursed. The state is now expanding the eligibility requirements and reopening the application window. (NY State of Politics)
Western New York is going through its worst period since the start of the pandemic. Buffalo, the second most populous city in the state, is experiencing an average positivity rate of about double the statewide rate. (Wall Street Journal)