Tech:NYC Digest: March 23

Tech:NYC Digest: March 23

March 23, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Tuesday, March 23, 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: 50+ age group now eligible for the vaccine; at-home rapid tests can now be ordered on DoorDash; Citigroup CEO bans Friday Zoom calls, designates May 28th as company wide day off; Mayor de Blasio announces plans to return 80,000 city workers to offices by May 3rd.

By the Numbers:

  • New York State: 1,794,478 (+6,801)

  • New York City: 799,631 (+3,492)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 40,023 (+53)

  • NYC Positivity Rates:

    • NYS reports: 4.1 percent (no change)

    • NYC reports: 5.9 percent (-0.7 percent) 

  • Vaccine Progress:

    • NYS first doses administered: 5,285,610 (+87,497)

    • NYC first doses administered: 1,857,561 (+61,517)

General Updates:

  • Vaccine eligibility expands to all New Yorkers age 50 and older beginning today. Appointments can be made at city-run sites here, state-run sites here, and pharmacies like Walgreens here.

    • Meanwhile, Texas will open up eligibility to all adults beginning March 29th, joining at least 20 other states across the country pledging to do the same in the next two weeks. (New York Times)

    • A large manufacturing plant used by Johnson & Johnson was cleared today by regulators. Officials expect, with the addition of the J&J vaccine to states, US supply will increase by more than 20 percent. (Reuters) New York is expecting a supply surge through April due to stimulus funds that could accelerate eligibility in the next two months. (Gothamist)

  • Just a day after clinical trial data was released showing confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine’s effectiveness, US officials are now warning the vaccine maker may have included outdated and incomplete information from those trials. (New York Times)

    • The friction arose when an independent monitoring board overseeing the trial asked the company to take a more rigorous approach in determining whether trial participants had actual or possible cases of COVID-19, but the results AstraZeneca released yesterday did not include that analysis.

    • AstraZeneca defended the data it released yesterday and said it will release fuller results within 48 hours.

  • And lastly, one small detail that we missed buried in the Trump-era COVID relief bill: a public government report on UFOs. (Washington Post)

The latest results: Subway ridership has been slowly increasing as reopening and vaccination efforts progress; however, the return hasn’t been even across the city: a new dashboard shows the largest increases are in outer borough neighborhoods. How often are you now taking the subway?

Today's poll

: New York still has one of the highest positivity rates in the country. Experts are

, particularly because there is a decline in testing and data processing in the state. City officials are reiterating that, even with the vaccines, robust testing is key to tracking the virus, and increased access to at-home testing (

) and rapid testing sites across the city may help. Have you received a COVID-19 test in the past month?

  • *|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve had a regular test|*

  • *|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve had an on-site rapid test|*

  • *|SURVEY: Yes, I’ve had an at-home rapid test|*

  • *|SURVEY: I have not been tested in the past month|*

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

  • Three mass vaccination sites in NYC — at Citi Field, Bathgate in the Bronx, and the Brooklyn Army Terminal — are now accepting walk-ups for the vaccine for individuals age 85 and older and anyone who accompanies them (e.g., a family member or caregiver). (Twitter)

  • New York’s biggest sectors, tech and finance, weathered the pandemic better than many initially expected, with data in January estimating that the city’s economy contracted 0.6 percent in 2020 compared with 2019, a far brighter picture than the 12.9 percent decline predicted. (Wall Street Journal) Other industries, like real estate, dining, retail and hospitality, did not fare as well, contracting at higher levels in the past year.

  • A new state Senate bill would create a voluntary COVID-19 health registry, similar to the one crafted in the wake of the 9/11 terror attack, to monitor the long-term effects of the coronavirus. (New York Daily News)

  • DoorDash has launched an initiative to provide same-day on-demand delivery of at-home COVID tests. (Axios)

Related reading:

  • Is It Safe To Go Back to Group Exercise Class at the Gym? (New York Times)

  • How Much Weight Did We Gain During Lockdowns? 2 Pounds a Month, Study Hints (New York Times)

Working:

  • In an effort to combat workplace stress and burnout, new Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has banned internal Zoom and video calls on Fridays and is encouraging staff to avoid scheduling meetings outside of what had been normal working hours before the pandemic. (Bloomberg) She has also designated May 28th as “Citi Reset Day” as a company wide holiday.

    • Relatedly, Citi is keeping its internship program virtual this year, but restoring it to its full 10-week schedule, back up from a five-week program in 2020.

  • Mayor de Blasio announced he will end remote work for all 80,000 city employees, bring them back to the office starting May 3rd in a move intended to signal a broader reopening message to other office workers and employers. (New York Times)

Related reading:

  • Initialized Capital’s Kim-Mai Cutler: How to reopen your startup’s offices (Initialized)

  • A Stanford economist says working from home works, in moderation (The Guardian)

Request: please let us know as your return-to-office policies are developed and what considerations your companies are taking for developing them. Sharing this information is helpful to companies and employees across the NYC ecosystem and can be kept anonymous.

Recruit: A tech talent and job opportunities board from Tech:NYC and AlleyCorp compiles NYC tech workers looking for new roles and NYC-based tech companies hiring open positions. To contribute to the board, click here.Events:

  • March 27: Virtual: AMA Live, with Venmo and Fin co-founder Andrew Kortina. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. (Details)

  • March 30: Virtual: Built to Lead: Celebrating Women’s History Month, featuring engineers from Etsy, Figma, Compass, and Maven. Hosted by Maven. (Details)

  • March 31: Virtual: Work Shifting Summit, with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, Facebook VP Carolyn Everson, Verizon chief human resources officer Christy Piambanchi, and more. Hosted by Bloomberg. (Details)

Check these sources for verified information from government agencies and public health authorities:

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