Tech:NYC Digest: March 2

Tech:NYC Digest: March 2

March 02, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Wednesday, March 2, 2022 

In today’s digest, NYC to end contact tracing program, White House announces new coronavirus strategy, and Google joins a growing list of companies moving full steam ahead with spring reopening dates.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 2,124

    • New positive cases, NYC: 788

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 1.2 percent (-0.1 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 670 (+23)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 89.0 percent

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 75.6 percent

In today’s latest:

  • NYC will end its main contact tracing program next month, yet another sign that officials are preparing for a shift to a new normal beyond the pandemic. (New York Times) 

    • The CDC no longer recommends universal case investigation and contact tracing. It now encourages health departments to focus those practices on high-risk settings. 

  • The White House issued a 96-page coronavirus strategy today, aimed at ushering the US into a “new normal” with four main goals: protecting against and treating COVID-19; preparing for new variants; avoiding shutdowns; and fighting the virus abroad. (New York Times)

    • A core component of the new strategy includes a new “test to treat” initiative: anyone who receives a positive test result at a pharmacy will be given antiviral pills on the spot, free of charge.

  • While New York’s statewide indoor mask mandate for schools ended today, New York City public school students and staff will continue to be required to wear masks until the city’s mandate is allowed to expire on Monday, March 7. (NBC New York)

  • Federal government supplies of COVID-19 at-home test kits remain higher than expected, so Americans can now order additional kits above the original limit at no charge. (CNN) Additional tests can be ordered here.

  • As of Monday, Harlem residents can now visit the Innovation Space for People, a 2,800-square-foot center offering coworking desks, after-school programing, event space, and free WiFi to local residents. The building was designed by tech infrastructure company Silicon Harlem to bridge the digital divide. (Crain’s New York Business) 

In other reading:

  • How to Lead New York Into the Next Phase of COVID-19 (New York Times)

  • Why the worst of the pandemic might be over — for some (Vox)

  • In Manhattan’s ‘Little Ukraine,’ People Gather to Denounce Russian Invasion, Find Solace (Wall Street Journal)

The office return is officially in motion. After two full years of remote work, a growing list of companies are viewing March as a window to finally act on their reopening plans, writes the Wall Street Journal.

  • Large employers like Meta, Cisco, and American Express all previously announced March reopening dates and intend to keep them.

Google today became the latest to seize the same opportunity, announcing that it will end voluntary WFH and ask workers to return on a hybrid basis starting April 4. (Washington Post)

  • That deadline applies to several US offices, including its NYC and San Francisco campuses, and other hubs based on local conditions.

  • Most workers will be expected to be in the office at least three days a week. Between now and then, the company will provide resources to assist employees’ transition to the new hybrid approach, including 15-minute virtual drop-in meetings with trained counselors.

Other companies have delegated the decision of when and how often employees come into the office to teams and managers.

  • But there’s broad consensus among workplace researchers that bringing teams together has advantages. Fewer lunches, face-to-face meetings, and after-hours social gatherings result in weaker connections among employees. Employees who are less linked to their peers are more likely to change jobs, a top concern for executives in today’s ultra-competitive labor market.

According to Kastle Systems, a security company that measures how many individuals swipe into buildings, workplaces in 10 major US cities were, on average, 36.4 percent occupied as of mid-February, slightly up from about 33 percent earlier in the month. 

The takeaway: Office use has been slow and gradual across the Delta and Omicron waves, but with plummeting case counts and mandates being lifted, this may finally be the month office returns don’t just inch upward, but make a big leap.

In other reading:

  • Remote Work Doesn’t Have to Be the ‘Mommy Track’ (New York Times)

  • Lattice CEO Jack Altman: I feared remote work would kill my startup’s culture. Here’s why it didn’t (Fast Company)

  • Why it’s so satisfying to watch people complain about their jobs on TikTok (CNBC)

  • FreeWill, a New York-based startup that combines philanthropy with estate planning, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Bain Capital Double Impact led the round. (Crain’s New York Business)

  • point.me, a New York City-based flight award travel tool, raised $2 million in seed funding. PAR Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by WndrCo Holdings, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dropbox founder Sujay Jaswa, and others. (TechCrunch)

NYC Open Data Week 2022, a week-long festival of community events, returns March 5 – 13. Organized by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics and BetaNYC, the festival will feature both virtual and in-person events to celebrate the tenth anniversary of NYC’s Open Data Law and NYC’s civic tech community more broadly. Learn more here.Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab is accepting applications for its inaugural New York and London cohorts. The five-month program provides $250K in capital, content strategy, and mentor connections for early stage tech and tech-enabled companies led by women and BIPOC entrepreneurs. Learn more and apply by March 7 here.The CSI Tech Incubator is accepting applications for its spring cohort. Chosen startups will join a nine-week program for early stage tech entrepreneurs looking to build their company’s brand or customer engagement; improve digital and content strategy; scale teams; and more. Learn more and apply by March 13 here.The Black Venture Institute is accepting applications for its summer 2022 cohort. BVI is a curriculum-based program dedicated to teaching Black operators the foundational elements to become angel and venture investors. Learn more and apply by March 18 here.The Transit Tech Lab is accepting applications for its 2022 program. The lab, which supports growth-stage companies with solutions for improving NYC’s public transit system, provides the opportunity to pilot their tools with the MTA and other leading transit agencies. Learn more and apply by March 25 here.Udacity, in partnership with Citi, is accepting applications for its programming and web development scholarship program. The scholarship is open to Black and Latinx individuals in the NYC metro area looking to build their tech skills or begin a career in tech. Learn more and apply by March 28 here.Y Combinator is accepting applications for its Summer 2022 cohort. The program will be all-virtual with optional in-person opportunities, and accepted companies will receive $500K in total investments. Learn more and apply by March 31 here.

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