<big>...Data from interactions in 130+ cities found 666,000+ interactions in protective equipment donations and 650,000+ interactions in food and meal donations...</big> (Zencity) |
April 23, Zencity’s Meirav Katzav reports on communities around the country coalescing in the face of COVID-19’s physical and economic threats (paraphrased).
Coronavirus has placed a strain on communities worldwide. In the US since the beginning of March, our weekly tracking of changes in public online discourse data has identified changes in topics most occupying interest, community solidarity gaining eminence in the past 3 weeks, and remaining ever since US numbers of COVID-19 cases began to spike.
Drilling down into the 1.6M interactions on this topic from 130+ American cities elucidated some compelling trends:
- Online conversations surrounding coronavirus donation and volunteering initiatives peaked in mid-march and show no signs of slowing down.
- Discourse on community volunteer initiatives was 20X higher in the second half of march than the first half, indicating just how quickly communities began coming together to confront the crisis.
<big>See breakdown charts at the article’s webpage.</big>
Currently, the most popular topics of discussion include donations of tangible products, e.g., protective and medical supplies to frontline workers, and food donations to low-income families and other vulnerable communities.
- With the severe shortage of protective equipment for first responders, and time being of the essence, retailers, suppliers and communities have taken it upon themselves to donate masks, sanitizers, wipes and more, to medical teams, police and fire departments.
- As millions of Americans face unemployment, the demand for food aid increased as much as eightfold in some areas, recognized in the discourse by residents’ interest in ensuring no one in their communities stays hungry.
- The call to shop locally, contribute to relief funds, and engage in proactive social distancing have receded slightly as the above issues came to light, signifying a shift in community concern to prioritize helping those risking their lives on the frontlines.
These trends indicate the true strength of a unified community, especially in times of crisis...
|
The Zencity report was accessed via smartcitiesdive.com … tracking-the-impact-of-coronavirus-on-us-cities…
...U.S. cities are currently responding to heightened concern around the growing outbreak of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19. To stay on top of local-level mitigation, Smart Cities Dive will regularly update this tracker with aggregated news and headlines regarding the virus' impact on cities…
April 23, 2020
New research from Northeastern University suggests thousands of COVID-19 infections were silently spreading in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and other major cities as early as March 1, the New York Times reports. The research model estimates as many as 28,000 infections could have spread across major U.S. cities at that time, despite only a handful of cases having been confirmed. The model is the first to offer a clear account of “how far behind the United States was in detecting the virus,” the Times wrote. The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 will reportedly reach 50,000 by this weekend.
- The Resilient Cities Catalyst
(RCC) announced a new series of open-access resources to support cities in addressing coronavirus-related challenges. First is a white paper that addresses four fundamental weaknesses of cities, and opportunities to establish more stability as recovery efforts are underway. (RCC)
- The mayor and city council members of Topeka, KS voted to cut their own pay by 6% to better balance city budgets amid falling tax revenues. (WOWT)
- URBAN-X held its first virtual demo day of 2020 to highlight the work of its Cohort 07 startups who just wrapped a 20-week accelerator program. (The Architect's Newspaper)
- Interest in community volunteer programs saw a 20x increase in the second half of March compared to the first half, according to a new report from Zencity. Data from interactions in 130+ cities found 666,000+ interactions in protective equipment donations and 650,000+ interactions in food and meal donations. (Zencity)
- Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said about 75% of the city’s nursing home residents (1,445 people) have been tested for COVID-19, with 26% of tests resulting in positive cases. (MLive)
- GIS Planning launched a hyperlocal business directory tool, ZoomBusiness, which enables communities to map essential businesses and share information regarding hours of operation and customer services. (GIS Planning)
- Washington, DC’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles and Via have teamed up to launch an on-demand transit service for essential workers at two local hospitals. (Via)
April 22, 2020
- The New York City Department of Transportation is discouraging cash payments at parking meters and instead urging drivers to park via smartphone. The city has endorsed ParkNYC and ParkMobile to assist with cashless payments. (PR Newswire)
- Sioux Falls, SD established a Supporting Operations and Resiliency (SOAR) plan to work with local businesses on adopting safety practices specific to COVID-19. (KELO)
- OutStreets Supplies, a Washington, DC-based app collecting reports from local residents about their grocery shopping experiences, created a ranking of the best and worst grocery stores for social distancing. (WAMU)
- San Francisco will start banning cars on certain roads for its new “Slow Streets” program. (KQED)...
|
Anyone can subscribe to any of the dive.com publications to receive emailed notifications of top articles and to read at their websites, just leave the “company” line blank in filling in your information. Sites include fooddive.com, utilitydive.com, grocerydive.com, smartcitiesdive.com, wastedive.com, and more. (No, they don’t pay me, I’m just a fan.) Type the URL to reach a site, explore other sites from there. These are industry publications. Unlike new-for-news-sake, they don’t have write to please political viewpoints, they just have to supply information their industries can rely on as factual, objective, and well founded.