The U.S. government entered into a $1 billion COVID-19 vaccine deal with Johnson & Johnson for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday while New York City announced traveler checkpoints to enforce its quarantine requirements and Chicago said schools will be virtual at the start of the school year.

The deal between Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense will demonstrate the production of a COVID-19 vaccine, including full-finish manufacturing, to determine if the treatment can safely and effectively be delivered to Americans immediately.

The $1 billion deal will also help to expedite the delivery of the vaccine under the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed program, which looks to bring a vaccine to market by the end of 2021.

The government has also included an option for an additional 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. The doses of the vaccine purchased by the government will be used in clinical trials or distributed as part of a COVID-19 vaccine campaign once it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“With the portfolio of vaccines being assembled for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration is increasing the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe, effective vaccine by 2021,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “Today’s investment represents the next step in supporting Janssen’s vaccine candidate all the way through manufacturing, with the potential to bring hundreds of millions of safe and effective doses to the American people.”

In New York, travelers heading into the city need to heed the state’s quarantine order that requires as many as 35 states and U.S. territories to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival or face a fine of $10,000.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said checkpoints will be manned by local law enforcement and the Department of Finance in the Sherriff’s Office. The checkpoints will be placed at major bridges and tunnels to ensure travelers quarantine when entering the city and fill out a New York State Department of Health traveler form. Failure to fill out the form could result in the fine.

The states and territories that need to quarantine when entering the state include Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

“New York City is holding the line against COVID-19, and New Yorkers have shown tremendous discipline,” de Blasio said in a statement. “We’re not going to let our hard work slip away and will continue to do everything we can to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy.”

Children in Chicago will not head back to school buildings in the fall. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said classes will be virtual for the start of the year as coronavirus cases in the city continue to rise. Classes were slated to start on Sept. 8, a decision that will now push classroom learning back until at least November.

Lightfoot and schools CEO Janice Jackson said the decision to keep children home for the start of the school year was based on public health data trends and also a survey that indicated more than a third of parents were uncomfortable sending their children back to school. Remote learning will last a full school day.

The Chicago area has seen a spike in coronavirus cases, up 3.5% from a week earlier, with a seven-day rolling average of 5%. The total number of coronavirus cases in Cook County, Illinois, is over 108,400, with over 4,900 deaths.

In other coronavirus news:

  • Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden will not be traveling to Milwaukee to accept his nomination because of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden will deliver his acceptance speech from his home in Delaware, the Democratic National Convention Committee said. The convention, which will be held Aug. 17-20, will be entirely virtual. President Trump said he is considering delivering his acceptance speech from the White House.
  • Uber said its employees can work from home until June 2021, as uncertainty about the coronavirus continues. The rideshare company will provide employees with a $500 stipend to pay for office equipment and said the decision to work from home will not affect future performance reviews. Uber has 22,000 employees and 3.9 million contract drivers.
  • The Cruise Lines International Association issued a voluntary order that will suspend all U.S. cruise operations through Oct. 31 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “This is a difficult decision as we recognize the crushing impact that this pandemic has had on our community and every other industry,” the CLIA said, adding it will reevaluate its decision by Sept. 30 to determine if it needs to further extend the suspension or end it.
  • Florida has become the second state to surpass 500,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, trailing only California, which has more than 527,000 positive cases of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Data provided by the Florida Department of Health confirmed Florida has 502,739 total positive cases of coronavirus, with the majority in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The COVID-19 death count in Florida is 7,627, the health department data showed.
  • The University of Connecticut is the first major college football program to announce it is canceling its 2020 season because of the pandemic. “After receiving guidance from state and public health officials and consulting with football student-athletes, we’ve decided that we will not compete on the gridiron this season,” UConn athletics director David Benedict said in a statement. “The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk.” No UConn football players have tested positive for the coronavirus since early July, university officials said.
  • Italy is threatening to suspend Ryanair’s flight permit if it does not comply with coronavirus safety rules, the Italian national civil aviation authority ENAC said. Ryanair, however, denied violating the guidelines. In a statement, ENAC said, "Not only is the obligation to distance passengers not respected, but the conditions for making an exception to that rule are also being ignored.” Ryanair called the accusations “factually incorrect,” but the ENAC said it will suspend the airline’s air transport activities at national airports if it does not comply.
  • COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to cost Americans from $4 to $39 a dose based on the contracts between the U.S. government and various drugmakers. Moderna CEO Stephanie Bancel said on an earnings call the company “will be responsible on price,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Moderna’s mRNA vaccine is in clinical trials after receiving about $950 million in U.S. funding. There are six vaccine candidates that have entered Phase 3 clinical trials with more than 165 vaccines still under investigation.
  • The global COVID-19 death toll has reached over 700,000 as cases of the coronavirus continue to rise around the world. The U.S. still leads in the total number of COVID-19 deaths at more than 157,400 as well as with the number of positive coronavirus cases, which exceed 4.79 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. COVID-19 death count is followed by Brazil with more than 95,800 and Mexico with more than 48,800, according to the university. There is a total of over 18.6 million positive coronavirus cases worldwide.
coronavirus masks should not be placed inside microwave firefighters warn
coronavirus masks should not be placed inside microwave firefighters warn Klaus Hausmann - Pixabay
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