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Tech:NYC Digest: February 17

Tech:NYC Digest: February 17

February 17, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Wednesday, February 17, 2021As 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: Major winter weather stalls vax shipments, NYC out of doses in 24 hours says mayor; Biden predicts “normal” by Christmas, says vaccine available to all by July’s end; amusement parks and sleepaway camps will reopen for the summer statewide; over 90 percent of NYC restaurants failed to pay December bills in full due to cold weather.

Confirmed Cases:

New York State: 1,548,979 (+6,092)
New York City: 668,341 (+3,078)
Statewide Fatalities: 37,440 (+109)
NYC Positivity Rates:
- NYS reports: 4.4 percent (no change)
- NYC reports: 7.0 percent (-0.1 percent)

General Updates:

City officials announced a few updates to VAX4NYC, the city’s vaccine scheduling portal today. Providers have been added to make it more comprehensive and to better consolidate other appointment locations. It also now has translations into ten languages.
Vaccine shipments are facing widespread delays because of serious winter weather conditions hitting much of the country. (Washington Post) Shipments out of hubs in the southeast have been particularly impacted, causing many sites to temporarily close, and not just because of dangerous road and delivery conditions — more unexpected issues like extreme weather-related internet disruptions have made it impossible to remotely monitor refrigeration at clinic sites.
- Mayor de Blasio said he learned today that some of these storms are causing delays to New York’s shipments, and the available supply of vaccines in NYC could run out within the next 24 hours. (New York Daily News) With more snow coming to NYC tomorrow and potentially months of winter weather ahead, officials are beginning to put contingency plans in place should those supply chain disruptions become more frequent.
At a town hall last night, Pres. Biden said he hopes America will get back to “normal” by Christmas. (CNN) He said that the vaccine rollout is still in early stages and he wanted to be cautious about overpromising a timeline sooner than that. Biden also reiterated that the vaccine will be available to every American who wants it by the end of July. (New York Post)
For New Yorkers living or staying outside of the city: more than a dozen large mass vaccination sites are being opened in Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, and other cities that will be able to administer 1,000 doses per day. (NY State of Politics)

One opportunity tomorrow: Tech:NYC is facilitating a briefing with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s employment law group on the legal and logistical considerations employers should be thinking about for vaccinations and return to office policies. If you’d like to join us tomorrow at 4pm, send us a note here and we’ll get you the details.One read we love: Stuck at Home, Pastry Chefs Find Freedom. New Yorkers Find Cookies. (New York Times)

The latest results: Well the results are in for the top pizza joints in New York City (according to Google): Joe’s Pizza and Scarr’s Pizza in Manhattan. Debate settled? We’re not so sure. But something that is true, this has been a great year for pizza with sales up four percent nationally. What’s your pandemic pizza pattern been like?

Today's poll

: “Low risk” cultural institutions like museums have now been reopened in NYC for about six months, albeit at low capacity limits and with other ongoing safety protocols in place. While these spaces have been

a welcome option

for people otherwise cooped up at home, many of them are still raising concerns that low visitor levels continue to mean an uncertain outlook. Have you visited any of these reopened spaces?

*|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve visited an outdoor institution (botanical garden, park, zoo, etc.)|*
*|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve visited an indoor institution (library, museum, etc.)|*
*|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve visited both indoor and outdoor institutions|*
*|SURVEY: No, I haven’t visited any of these institutions|*

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

Gov. Cuomo announced a few new reopening dates to look ahead to in the state: (New York Daily News)
- March 26: indoor “family entertainment centers” (e.g., venues ike arcades and trampoline parks) can reopen at 25 percent capacity
- April 9: outdoor amusement parks can reopen at 33 percent capacity
- June: sleepaway camps can reopen for the summer
- Specific details on guidance related to each of these is forthcoming
In a small sign that double-masking is increasingly becoming the leading guidance: visitors to Manhattan federal court buildings are now required to wear either two face masks or an FDA-approved N95 mask. (New York Post)
A new poll from the American Federation of Teachers found that most teachers and students who are back in the classroom feel it's been going well and are comfortable with the return of in-person classes. Those who are still fully remote, though, were still less comfortable with the idea. (Axios)
- Pres. Biden said yesterday he’s pushing to have most, if not all, public schools reopened for in-person instruction five days a week by May. (Forbes)
Updated data shows how winter months have been another blow to the restaurant and hospitality industry: more than 90 percent of NYC restaurants couldn’t pay full rent in December. (Eater NY) Although limited indoor dining is now permitted in NYC, some restaurant and bar owners have declined to do it, citing safety concerns for restaurant workers and staff, while others say that 25 percent capacity limit is not enough to stay afloat.
There are now 82 confirmed cases of the UK variant strain in New York. That’s up by 12 cases since Saturday, 11 of which are in NYC. (New York Post)