Tech:NYC Digest: July 28

Tech:NYC Digest: July 28

July 28, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

In today’s digest, the CDC thinks New Yorkers should mask up, NYC hopes on-the-spot $100 gift cards will lure vaccine holdouts, Google and Facebook become the latest companies to announce vax mandates, and the Tokyo Olympics are all over TikTok.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 2,203 (+506)

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,258 (+354)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 7 (+5)

  • NYC Positivity Rates: 

    • NYS reports: 2.0 percent (+0.1 percent)

    • NYC reports: 2.6 percent (+0.2 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 74.8 percent

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 62.6 percent

(For fuller breakdowns, find the state’s numbers here and the city’s numbers here.)

Today’s latest:

Yesterday afternoon, the CDC reversed earlier guidance and urged vaccinated people in areas with either “substantial” or “high” COVID-19 transmission to once again wear masks indoors. (Mask guidance has never changed for unvaccinated people.)

Here’s what that means: The CDC defines "substantial transmission" as 50-100 cases per 100,000 people in a seven-day period and "high transmission" as more than 100 cases per 100,000. 

  • That currently applies to about 63 percent of all US counties, 46 percent of which are labeled “high transmission.”

And yes, that also includes all five NYC counties. (Gothamist) Each are in the “substantial” category, except for Staten Island, which is in the “high” category with 109 cases per 100,000 people as of yesterday. Nassau and Suffolk counties, and several bordering New Jersey counties, are also labeled “substantial.”

The new guidance is based on new data on breakthrough infections that suggest vaccinated individuals can serve as carriers and transmitters of the virus, despite rarely suffering serious outcomes of their own. (Washington Post)

  • “Officials were persuaded by new scientific evidence showing that even vaccinated people may be infected and may carry the virus in amounts that may be similar to those in unvaccinated people,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Municipal, county, and state officials will ultimately decide if and when their governments adopt the guidelines. Gov. Cuomo said his office is reviewing the CDC's recommendations in consultation with federal and state health experts.

Dig deeper: What If Vaccines Don’t Really Stop the Virus From Spreading? (New York Magazine)

In other news:

  • Gov. Cuomo is requiring all patient-facing health care workers at state-run hospitals to be vaccinated by Labor Day. No testing option will be available in lieu of vaccination for these workers. Additionally, all state employees must be vaccinated by the same date or face weekly testing for COVID-19. (Times Union)

  • Starting this Friday, New York City will provide a $100 prepaid debit card to anyone who goes to a city-run vaccination site for their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. (NBC New York)

  • The U.S. will not lift any existing travel restrictions at this point due to concerns over the Delta variant and the rising number of U.S. coronavirus cases. (Reuters) While more countries are opening their borders to American tourists that are fully vaccinated, the country’s own restrictions, which prevent most of the world from entering the US, will remain in effect. (CNN)

  • New Yorkers would be free to openly consume alcohol in public areas under a new proposal by the city’s Nightlife Advisory Board. However, some residents are not in favor of the idea. (New York Post) Mayor de Blasio isn’t fully on board either. (New York Post)

Today’s big return-to-office news comes from Google, which announced it would require all employees to be vaccinated in order to return to the office, making it one of the largest in a growing list of companies reacting to the spread of the Delta variant. (New York Times)

  • And just minutes ago, Facebook VP of People Lori Goler released a similar statement, confirming anyone working in any of its US offices will be required to be vaccinated. Details on how the policy will be implemented, subject to local regulations, are still forthcoming. (CNBC)

Google is also pushing back its official return-to-office date to October 18 at the earliest. It was previously set for an unspecified September date.

  • The updated guidance will apply to all US office locations “in the coming weeks” and to other regions “in the coming months,” said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. The company has more than 144,000 employees globally.

  • Google offices have reopened in many US cities on a voluntary basis, and in California, where statewide mask mandates are back in effect, workers are wearing masks at the office, even if they’re vaccinated.

Pichai said employees will get at least 30 days’ notice before transitioning into full return-to-office plans. For those with special circumstances, expanded temporary work options that will allow Googlers to apply to work from home through the end of 2021 are also forthcoming.

In related reading:

  • The Remote Work Czar is the New Shortcut to the C-suite (Bloomberg)

  • ‘I’m Worried Going Back to the Office Will Mean More Work’ (The Cut)

  • Why Workplace Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates Aren’t Widespread—Yet (Wall Street Journal)

  • Workers’ Anxiety Grows as Covid Variant Casts a Shadow (New York Times)

  • Behalf, a New York and Israel-based provider of buy-now-pay-later, raised $19 million in funding. Migdal Insurance and La Maison Partners led the round and were joined by investors including MissionOG, Viola Growth, Viola Credit, and Vintage Investment Partners. (GlobeNewswire)

  • Fireblocks, a New York-based infrastructure provider for digital assets, raised $310 million in Series D funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. Sequoia Capital, Stripes and Spark Capital co-led, and were joined by Coatue, DRW VC and SCB 10X. (TechCrunch)

  • Stronghold Digital Mining, a New York-based crypto asset mining company, filed for an IPO. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (SDIG). (Yahoo Finance)

  • Suzy, a New York-based consumer and market research platform, announced today the closing of a $50 million Series D funding round led by H.I.G. Growth Partners, an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital and joined by existing investors Rho Capital Partners, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Foundry Group, Triangle Peak Partners, and North Atlantic Capital. (Alleywatch)

  • July 29: Virtual: Foreseeable Future: A Conversation about the Workplace Revolution, with Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud, DocuSign CEO Dan Springer, and BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux. Hosted by CNN Business. Register here.

  • July 29: Virtual: Industry Needs: The State of Brooklyn and Staten Island, with Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation president and CEO David Ehrenberg, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership president Regina Myer, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Randy Peers, and others. Hosted by NYCETC. Register here. 

  • August 10: Virtual: How Tech Companies Expand Internationally, with Accel partner Rich Wong, Atomic founder in residence Swathy Prithivi, Asana head of global revenue Oliver Jay, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

Some Tech:NYC team members are (in)famously prone to getting caught in long, deep rabbit holes of distraction on TikTok. We won’t name names, but hat tip to them,

so far.

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