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Tech:NYC Digest: March 2

Tech:NYC Digest: March 2

March 02, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Tuesday, March 2, 2021As the vaccination rollout progresses and NYC continues to respond to the pandemic, this digest focuses on the resources that help you make decisions about your businesses and your lives as New Yorkers.Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

The latest: Pres. Biden says US to have enough shots for all adults by end of May; NY lawmakers reach deal on Cuomo’s emergency pandemic powers, return responsibilities to localities; analysis shows Manhattan’s January rent average dropped 15.5 percent year-over-year; big banks including BoA and JPMorgan commit paid time off for staff to get vaccinated.

By the Numbers:

New York State: 1,642,480 (+5,800)
New York City: 718,119 (+3,117)
Statewide Fatalities: 38,660 (+82)
NYC Positivity Rates:
- NYS reports: 3.9 percent (no change)
- NYC reports: 6.1 percent (no change)
Vaccine Progress:
- NYS first doses administered: 3,033,922 (+79,064)
- NYC first doses administered: 1,098,080 (+21,443)

General Updates:

Pres. Biden announced the US will have enough vaccine doses available for all American adults by the end of May. (Wall Street Journal) The announcement includes a “historical partnership” between two rival New Jersey drugmakers, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, that will drastically accelerate production of its recently approved vaccine. (Washington Post)
A couple of reminders about how the J&J dose is different:
- The J&J vaccine is a one-dose regimen, unlike the others authorized in the US so far, and it can be kept with simpler refrigeration measures for a longer amount of time, making it easier to store and ship. (CNN)
- Nearly four million doses of the vaccine were already shipped out yesterday nationwide, with more coming to states throughout the week. It’s still unclear how many of those will be allocated to New York. (NBC New York)
- New York will begin a pilot program this week to administer the J&J vaccine during overnight hours at the Javits Center, Yankee Stadium, and New York State Fair mass vaccination sites, expanding those locations to 24/7 operations. (NYS)
State lawmakers have reportedly reached a deal to strip Gov. Cuomo of his emergency powers to manage the pandemic. The agreement would prevent the governor from issuing any new statewide directives, like shutdowns, and more local control over reopening decisions would be restored. (NY State of Politics)
The first peak of the pandemic almost a year ago brought with it dire warnings about related economic fallout. But for most states, changes in tax revenue from 2019 to 2020 were largely flat, or in some cases, better. (New York Times) In New York, changes were much more modest than expected, with a 4.1 decrease.
To that end, state lawmakers and the Cuomo administration have reached an agreement on a two-year revenue forecast that is $2.45 billion above what was in Gov. Cuomo’s proposed state budget. (ABC Albany)
Democratic Senators plan to approve the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package next week and deliver it to Pres. Biden’s desk before March 14, when unemployment aid is set to expire. (CNBC)

One read we love: The newest fashion trend in New York is — unironically, hyper-specifically — New York itself. (The Cut)

The latest results: New studies have discovered a novel mutant strain of the coronavirus originating in NYC. And while there are still several unknowns, federal public health officials are raising concerns about its transmissibility and whether or not it’s susceptible to current vaccines. Does the discovery of new strains in NYC change your expectations about when the city will be able to fully reopen?

Today's poll

: The days of economic uncertainty may soon be over. The New York state legislature today announced a revenue forecast

$2.45 billion higher

than the governor’s proposed budget, and the

pending $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package

is expected to plug any holes that remain in state and local funding. However, there’s still a lot of recovery ahead, primarily lowering the unemployment rate and keeping small and medium businesses afloat through reopening. How long do you think it will take for NYC’s economy to fully recover?

*|SURVEY: Within six months|*
*|SURVEY: Six months to a year|*
*|SURVEY: One year to two years|*
*|SURVEY: Two years to five years|*
*|SURVEY: Five years or more|*

Find the poll results from all previous editions of this newsletter here.

Following state Senate proposals last week, the Assembly released its own package of nearly 20 nursing home reform bills aimed at tightening protocols at the facilities, as well as in Dept. of Health reporting rules. (New York Post)
The state Senate will take up the NY HERO Act, a workplace safety bill that would require all employers to have testing, PPE, social distancing, and other safety protocols in place. (NY State of Politics)
Analysis of rents across all NYC boroughs continued to show the fastest year-over-year decline in January in at least a decade, with a 15.5 percent drop in Manhattan. (Bloomberg)
There has been some good news for New York’s office market, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is in the middle of its biggest expansion since World War II and has maintained a steady flow of new leases during the pandemic. (Crain’s NY)
Some reopening policy from across the pond worth following: the EU will propose a union-wide digital certificate that would provide a standard proof of COVID-19 vaccination to allow Europeans to travel more freely beginning this summer. (Reuters)