Tech:NYC Digest: September 27

Tech:NYC Digest: September 27

September 27, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Monday, September 27, 2021

In today’s digest, Pfizer booster shots are available for eligible New Yorkers, Rikers Island will finally get a mayoral visit, and tech companies must soon decide whether to terminate unvaccinated employees.

  • Tech Gives Back 2021 is around the corner: Today is the final chance to sign yourself and your teams up for the annual Tech Gives Back initiative! From Oct. 4-8, we’re partnering with Silicon Valley Bank to support a list of NYC tech and workforce training nonprofits that could use your help. We hope you’ll join us in signing up for a virtual volunteer opportunity here.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 4,004

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,351

  • Statewide Fatalities: 24

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 1.7 percent

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 83.7 percent

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 70.9 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • Booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine are now available in New York to certain groups, following CDC recommendations over the weekend. (NBC New York) To determine if you’re eligible, you must have:

    • Received Pfizer as your primary vaccine; are over 65 years old, or are 50 years or older with an underlying medical condition; and had your second dose at least six months ago.

    • While older populations are the priority, New Yorkers ages 18-49 with underlying medical conditions and individuals with jobs in high-risk settings may also receive a booster. Get the full guidance here.

    • FDA and CDC approval is still forthcoming for those who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. 

  • Midnight tonight marks the original deadline for city public school employees and state healthcare workers to have gotten at least one dose of the  COVID-19 vaccine. But:

    • For NYC school employees: the mandate was put on hold over the weekend after a federal appeals court granted a temporary injunction. The case has now been referred to a panel of judges, with a ruling expected in the next few days. (New York Times) About 10,000 teachers remain unvaccinated. (Gothamist)     

    • For health care workers: the mandate is still in effect, and New York hospitals are facing mass firings of thousands of unvaccinated workers. (New York Times) The sudden shortage has pushed the state to recruit medical professionals from other states and even the National Guard. Some hospitals are also suspending elective surgeries and other non-urgent services. (NPR)

    • Court workers in New York also won a temporary block of a vaccine mandate set to take effect today. (NY1)  

  • Mayor de Blasio promised that he will visit Rikers Island next week for the first time in over four years, caving to mounting political pressure as deteriorating conditions at the jail stand to become a national embarrassment for the city. (New York Daily News)

    • A group of elected officials have called on Pres. Biden to use federal resources to address the crisis at Rikers Island, expressing a lack of confidence in the city’s ability to restore order to the complex. (New York Times)

  • Pfizer plans to ask for authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for some children under 12 “in a matter of days,” bringing the US one step closer to offering protection to a particularly vulnerable population as the fall school season gets underway. (CNN)

In other reading:

  • Why this stage of the pandemic makes us so anxious (Washington Post)

  • We Did the Research: Masks Work, and You Should Choose a High Quality Mask if Possible (New York Times)

  • Seriously, How Are Parents Doing This? (The Cut)

One more read worth your time: From Mara Gay: How many lives could have been saved if others across the country had seen themselves in New Yorkers? (New York Times)

As employers wait for the Dept. of Labor to issue details on a new rule requiring employee vaccine mandates, a big question looms: Will companies fire workers who don't comply? (Protocol)

  • Under labor laws, employers generally have the right to set their terms and conditions of employment — if a worker doesn't comply, a company can give them the ax — and that applies to COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (CBS News)

Other sectors — especially those in higher-risk settings like healthcare — have taken more of a stand, setting unpaid leave or termination conditions on those choosing to remain unvaccinated, but the same decisions haven’t been seen in tech quite yet.

  • Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, and Lyft all declined to say whether their employees could face termination for this reason. Google and Lyft stated that employees who don't show proof of vaccination would have to discuss their options with HR.

Opting against receiving the vaccine could not only jeopardize tech workers’ current jobs, but future ones as well.

  • As many as 78 percent of hiring managers in computer and IT industries said they wanted to see vaccination status on applicants' resumes in a recent survey. One-third of respondents favor automatically eliminating applications without it.

There are plenty of other factors: how companies should decide exemption requests, whether it should apply to fully remote workers, and more.

The takeaway: A clearer picture should emerge soon once OSHA provides additional information (but unfortunately, there’s still no word on exactly when that might be). But when they do, we expect it’s just as likely to surface even more questions.

In other reading:

  • Workers are putting on pants to return to the office only to be on Zoom all day (Washington Post)

  • Can Companies Have a Hybrid Workplace — and Keep Things Fair? (Wall Street Journal)

  • 7 Gadgets to Make You Less Weird When You Go Back to the Office (New York Times)

  • Noops, a New York-based plant-based pudding maker, raised $2 million in additional funding. Lerer Hippeau led the round and was joined by Siddhi Capital, Idea Farm Ventures, Simple Food Ventures, Animal Capital, and American Pie executive Alan Mitzner. (TechCrunch)

  • The Vendry, a New York-based marketplace for event planners, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Stellation Capital founder Peter Boyce led the round and was joined by Founder Collective, Primary Ventures, WGI Group, Leadout Capital, Operator Partners, and Brilliant Friends. (AlleyWatch)

  • September 29: Virtual: The Future of Small Business, with Etsy CEO Josh Silverman and Ethel’s Banking Co. founder Jill Bommarito. Hosted by the Washington Post. Register here.

  • September 30: Virtual: What the vaccine mandate means for your company, with Nixon Peabody LLP partner Rachel Conn, Engage PEO general counsel Sadiqa Banks-Holsey, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • September 30: Virtual: How to Accelerate Your Business After Fundraising, with Union Square Ventures general partner Rebecca Kaden, Bolster CEO Matt Blumberg, Startup Grind co-founder Derek Anderson, and others. Hosted by Carta. Register here.

  • September 30: Virtual: Female Founder Office Hours, for 1:1 meetings with early-stage female founders and Tribeca Ventures Partners’ investment team. Register here.

  • October 6 – 7: Virtual: Future Imperfect Summit 2021, with WNYC editor in chief Audrey Cooper, Partnership on AI head of AI and media integrity Claire Leibowicz, The Knowledge House CEO Jerelyn Rodriguez, and others. Hosted by NYC Media Lab. Register here.

  • October 6: Virtual: The Future of New York City, with Brooklyn Borough President (and Democratic nominee for Mayor) Eric Adams. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

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