Tech:NYC Digest: July 26

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Monday, July 26, 2021

Welcome back. In today’s digest, Mayor de Blasio says the time has come for vaccine mandates, masks are making a comeback, and the Delta variant threatens to derail office reopening plans.

• 🎉 On a lighter note, don’t forget to wish New York a happy 233rd birthday today!

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By the numbers:

With cases rising amid the Delta variant, we’re bringing back our daily list of key data points, including the daily number of new positive cases and the seven-day average positivity rates. The city and state each collect and report data using slightly different methods, so we’ve included both reported positivity rates below. (For fuller breakdowns, find the state’s numbers here and the city’s numbers here.)

• New positive cases statewide: 1,296

  • New positive cases, NYC: 743

• Statewide Fatalities: 4

• NYC Positivity Rates: 

  • NYS reports: 1.7 percent

  • NYC reports: 2.4 percent

• Vaccine Progress:

  • Statewide adult population with at least one dose: 74.6 percent

  • Citywide adult population with at least one dose: 70.6 percent

Today’s latest:

New York City will require all municipal workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus before schools reopen on September 13 or face weekly testing. (New York Times)

• The new requirement will apply to roughly 340,000 city workers, including teachers and police officers. The mandate follows another requirement that public health and hospital workers must also be vaccinated or get tested weekly starting August 2.

The mandates come as pressure grows from elected officials and public health experts for the city to more aggressively contain the spread of the Delta variant and improve vaccination rates in lagging areas.

• According to state data, there are 117 zip codes statewide with case counts higher than the state average and vaccination rates lower than the state average. Of those, 71 are in NYC — largely the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.

These new requirements could lead to broader mask and vaccination mandates across the city, including the return of mask wearing indoors, a step some city leaders say should already be in effect. (The New Yorker) Experts expect to see mask mandates reemerge across the country this fall, and in some towns and cities, they already have. (CNBC)

• Mayor de Blasio has repeatedly stated he wouldn’t consider reinstating an indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people, but he appears to be more receptive to stricter rules that require people to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter spaces like restaurants and other public places. (NBC New York)

In related reading:

• Why Vaccinated People Are Getting ‘Breakthrough’ Infections (New York Times)

• The Mask Mandate is Back. Here’s What to Know. (New York Magazine)

• America Is Getting Unvaccinated People All Wrong (The Atlantic)

• How Bad Could the Delta Variant Get? (New York Magazine)

As Mayor de Blasio imposes vaccine mandates on city workers, he’s also calling on private businesses to do the same with their employees. (New York Times)

• Mandates have so far been limited, with company executives hesitant to go much further than a “strongly encourage” strategy. But with the Delta variant causing new surges across much of the country — and threatening to derail office reopening plans — companies are more seriously considering them.

Few businesses are ahead of the curve: Morgan Stanley, for instance, is requiring employees and guests at its New York offices to be fully vaccinated, but there aren’t many others yet.

• Data released last month by the Partnership for New York City reports that about 15 percent of companies surveyed are requiring their employees to be vaccinated to return to the office, and another 10 percent haven’t yet decided on a policy.

Some companies are reacting to rising case counts not by instituting mandates, but by further postponing return to office timelines. (Protocol) Apple made news as the first major company to announce a delay, until at least October, but others are going further:

• Airbnb, Salesforce, SAP, and ServiceNow (all with office locations in NYC) won’t require employees back until 2022.

• Adobe, Asana, Twilio, and Twitter have begun welcoming back employees, but only those who are vaccinated. There’s no word on their policies for those who are unvaccinated.

• Pure, which planned to fully reopen its offices after Labor Day, is postponing their plans indefinitely. It still plans to reopen on a voluntary basis next month, but only to employees who tell the company they’re vaccinated.

For most other companies, it’s still a wait-and-see approach. Many have largely hoped their workers would get shots on their own, motivated by raffle tickets, paid time off, other workplace perks, or the consensus of the medical community. (New York Times)

It all adds up to a difficult calculation — with school reopenings, childcare arrangements, and other personal dynamics also shifting come September, employees are going to have to make some real decisions soon. That means their employees will too.

In related reading:

• The Boss Wants You Back in the Office. Like, Now. (Wall Street Journal)

• The Case for Scheduling Everything (New York Times)

• Returning to the office? Here’s how to level up your work lunch. (Washington Post)

• AboveBoard, a New York City-based talent marketplace for senior executives, raised $3 million in seed funding. Backers included Angeles Investors, Commune Angels, Jennifer Ceran, formerly of Smartsheet, Jonathan Mildenhall of TwentyFirstCenturyBrands and formerly of Airbnb, Nick Caldwell of Twitter, Bonita Stewart of Google, Farah Ali of Electronic Arts, Amy Chang, and the company’s founding partner True Search. (FinSMEs)

• Bbot, a New York City-based hospitality tech startup providing ordering and payment tools to restaurants, raised $15 in Series A funding. The round was led by CRV. (PR Newswire)

• ByHeart, a New York City-based infant nutrition company, raised $90 million in Series B funding. D1 Capital Partners led the round and was joined by investors including OCV Partners, Polaris Partners, Bellco Capital, Two River, and Red Sea Ventures. (PR Newswire)

• Ethena, a New York City-based compliance training platform, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. Felicis Ventures led the round and was joined by Lachy Groom, GSV, Homebrew, Neo, KKR's Henry Kravis, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, among others. (Forbes)

• NotCo, a New York City-based maker of plant-based foods, raised $235 million in Series D funding. Tiger Global led the round valuing it at $1.5 billion. Other investors include DFJ Growth Fund and ZOMA Lab. (TechCrunch)

• Outbrain, a New York City-based ad recommendation company, raised $160 million in its IPO offering of 8 million shares priced at a valuation of $1.25 billion. Viola Ventures, Gemini Israel Ventures, and Index Ventures back the firm. (VentureBeat)

• July 27: Virtual: How Machine Learning is Shaping the Future of Data Applications, with  Snowflake Head of AI/ML Strategy Ahmad Khan. Hosted by TechCrunch. Register here.

• July 27: Virtual: The Future of Connected Hardware, with Loomia CEO Madison Maxey, Numina CEO Tara Pham, Hubs COO Filemon Schöeffer, and littleBits founder Ayah Bdeir. Hosted by URBAN-X and Newlab. Register here.

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