Tech:NYC Digest: January 14

Tech:NYC Digest: January 14

January 14, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Friday, January 14, 2022

In today’s digest, NYC Dept. of Health releases new Omicron data, eviction moratorium set to expire tomorrow, and what SCOTUS’ vax mandate ruling means for employers.

  • Programming note: Tech:NYC will be closed on Monday for the MLK Jr. Day holiday, so we’ll see you on Tuesday! 

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By the numbers: 

  • New positive cases statewide: 49,207

    • New positive cases, NYC: 21,440

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 17.6 percent (-0.9 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 6,199 (-193)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers with least one dose: 85.8 percent

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 72.8 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • New findings from the NYC Dept. of Health show how quickly the Omicron variant spread throughout the city and the patient profiles of those falling ill. Get the full report here. Among the topline findings:

    • Whereas the Delta variant took 20 weeks to become the dominant variant, the Omicron variant became the dominant variant in five weeks.

    • While a smaller proportion of patients diagnosed with Omicron have been hospitalized, the total number of hospitalizations increased because of the large surge of new reported cases. 

    • Unvaccinated New Yorkers are about eight times more likely to become hospitalized than those who are vaccinated.

  • Beginning next Wednesday, Americans will be able to order free at-home test kits at COVIDTests.gov. (New York Times) The tests should ship within seven to 12 days.

  • New York's statewide eviction moratorium will expire on Saturday, with no indication of an additional extension. (THE CITY) However, a judge ordered the state to reopen its portal to allow residents to apply for rent protections, and both Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul have requested more relief funding from the federal government. (ABC New York)

  • Mayor Eric Adams said he is open to reintroducing a remote learning option for NYC’s public school students due to growing absenteeism concerns. (Gothamist) On Wednesday, about 225,000 students were absent, representing almost a quarter of the student population. 

    • The mayor is also considering updating the COVID-19 testing consent process to require parents to opt out of school testing rules, instead of the current opt-in rule. (ABC New York)   

  • And what actually happens with this weekend’s winter storm is anyone’s guess, but stay safe out there! 

In other reading:

  • How often can you safely reuse your KN95 or N95 mask? (Washington Post)

  • New York’s First NFT Restaurant Is Coming Soon. Wait – What? (Grub Street)

  • 7 ways to commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and learn more about Black history in New York (New York Times)

Less than one week after hearing oral arguments, the Supreme Court yesterday blocked the Biden’s administration’s vaccine-or-test requirement for large employers. (New York Times)

What it means for companies: Things could get a lot messier.

  • The ruling effectively eliminates the possibility of a federal workplace vaccination standard and leaves employers with a clashing patchwork of state and local mandates.

We checked in with Harris Mufson and Amanda Machin from Gibson Dunn’s labor and employment practice, who argue the decision makes it more challenging to implement any federal mandate:

  • “The most likely next step for OSHA would be to propose more targeted regulations. And because the ruling was focused on OSHA’s emergency-rulemaking authority, nothing in the Court’s ruling prevents OSHA from addressing COVID responses through its existing regulations (e.g., sanitation, personal protective equipment, and record-keeping requirements).”

New York is one place where the dissonance feels most apparent: Last month, vaccine mandates in NYC went into effect for all employers — not just those with 100 or more employees — and Mayor Eric Adams, upon assuming office on Jan. 1, announced he would keep the rule in place.

  • Hufson and Machin: “The city is unlikely to roll back those requirements in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. If anything, the city will likely be emboldened to continue to push forward with measures to combat the spread of COVID.”

But remember: Individual employers are still legally allowed to mandate vaccines for their employees … except in the states where they aren’t.

The state-by-state approach makes things especially complicated for tech companies with offices in multiple places: “It is true that employers with multiple locations will continue to confront a patchwork of laws and regulations, but that was true before the Supreme Court ruling, as well. Federal contractors also need to keep an eye on the vaccine mandate for federal contractors, which is currently stayed,” said Mufson.

While many companies previously tried to increase employee vaccination rates with cash bonuses and additional PTO, they hoped to ultimately point to the OSHA mandates to gain compliance from holdouts. Now, without more sweeping rules, public health experts warn the US has reached the end of the road on new vaccinations:

  • "It is now highly unlikely that the U.S. will hit the ~85-90% of Americans vaccinated to get to the other side of the pandemic," tweeted Dr. Céline Gounder, an NYU Langone infectious disease expert who served on Pres. Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board.

In other reading: 

  • Friday Brunch: WFH’s Forbidden Pleasure (Wall Street Journal)

  • What perks should tech companies pay for when offices reopen? (Protocol)

  • Glassdoor’s 2022 Best Places to Work (Glassdoor)

  • BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based energy and climate technology developer, raised $30 million in new funding from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund.

  • PreciseDx, a New York City-based cancer risk analysis company, raised $10.8 million in Series A funding. The Merck Global Health Innovation Fund led the round and was joined by the Mount Sinai Health System, Agilent Technologies, IBM Ventures, and the Hobart Group. (Newswire)

  • Recognize Partners, a New York City-based venture capital and private equity firm, raised $1.3 billion for its debut growth fund. (Wall Street Journal) 

  • Superhi, a New York City-based online coding school, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Frameworks Ventures led the round and was joined by Designer Fund, Torch Capital, Reach Capital, and Expa.

  • Correction: Bowery Farming, a New York City-based indoor vertical farming startup, raised $150 million in debt financing led by KKR and announced two new farms in the Dallas, TX and Atlanta, GA metro areas. (Newswire)

  • January 20: Virtual: How Snap Inc. Is Future Proofing Its Family Benefits for a New World of Work, with Snap Inc. senior manager of benefits Rahab Hammad and Maven SVP of People Karsten Vagner. Hosted by Maven. Register here.

  • January 25: Virtual: The Future of Community, with Flybridge Capital and Community Fund VC general partner Jesse Middleton. Register here.

  • January 26: Virtual: Tech Regulation is Coming. How Does Big Tech Respond?, with Microsoft chief privacy officer Julie Brill, TechNet president and CEO Linda Moore, Consumer Reports director of privacy and technology policy Justin Brookman, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here. 

  • February 1: Virtual: Hospitality in the Digital Age, with Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

  • February 2: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback On Your Idea/Prototype from a VC, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

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