Tech:NYC Digest: January 31

Tech:NYC Digest: January 31

January 31, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Monday, January 31, 2022

In today’s digest, 75 percent of NYC fully vaxxed, free COVID treatment pills for eligible NYC residents, and the startups leveling up your 2022 in our latest Companies to Watch series.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 5.115

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,445

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.5 percent (-0.3 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 3,126 (+30)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers with least one dose: 87.6 percent

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 74.1 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • New coronavirus cases statewide fell by over 50 percent last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Saturday. (New York Times)

    • In NYC, Mayor Adams announced that the city has officially hit 75 percent of all city residents who have been fully vaccinated, including adolescents. (POLITICO)

  • NYC is launching a program for residents to get antiviral pills for treating COVID. Supplies of the drug remain limited, but eligible New Yorkers with a prescription can now request the treatment for free, same-day at-home delivery. (New York Times)

    • The program makes NYC one of the only places to offer the treatments for same-day delivery, eliminating the need for potentially infectious people to travel.

    • Learn more about the treatments and eligibility rules here.

  • Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine has received full approval from the FDA for use in people ages 18 and older, and the approval allows the drugmaker to market the vaccine under the name Spikevax. (CNN)

  • Asthma, unhealthy gut bacteria, and the presence of autoantibodies, usually associated with autoimmune conditions, are among the risk factors identified in new studies as potentially making someone at greater risk of developing long COVID. (Wall Street Journal)

In other reading:

  • How Long Can I Keep Wearing the Same Respirator Mask? (New York Times)

  • COVID Is a Vibe: After Omicron, COVID will be what we make of it (New York Magazine)

  • New Yorkers Rejoice Over Rover The Bald Eagle In Central Park (Gothamist)

As the pandemic approaches its third year — and flexible work becomes mainstream — we hear from people more than ever seeking out ideas for new wellness or productivity habits to adopt.

And more times than not, we’re able to respond, “actually, there’s a startup for that!”

For 2022’s first edition of our Companies to Watch series, we talked to some of the early-stage founders building those startups — whether to help you focus on your physical or mental wellbeing — empowering people to become their healthiest and most productive selves.

As we round out the first month of the year (but hopefully catch you before you’ve abandoned your 2022 resolutions), meet:

  • Deep, an integrated health platform to achieve better sleep;

  • Balanced, a digital fitness platform for healthy aging;

  • doola, a “business-in-a-box” to help entrepreneurs manage their businesses;

  • Chill Pill, an app-based mental health community for young women 

In other reading: 

  • When Your Office Decides the Pandemic Is Over (New York Times)

  • Scared to talk about mental health at work? Here's how to make it easier. (Protocol)

  • Thinking about quitting your job? Ask these six questions first. (Washington Post)

  • 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 Charlie O’Donnell. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here.

  • February 8: Virtual: The changing role of the CIO, with Honeywell chief digital technology officer Sheila Jordan, ServiceNow CIO Chris Bedis, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • February 10: Virtual: How to Raise Funding and Scale a Startup, with New York Angels founder David S. Rose, Caribu CEO Maxeme Tuchman, and more. Hosted by DownToDash and Innovatemap. Register here.

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