Editor’s Note: Due to COVID-19, TommieMedia staff members are working remotely. This is a special News in :90 report from Max’s home in St. Paul, Minn.

More than 1.1 million cases and over 69,000 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded in the U.S.

New York City, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will offer antibody tests for 140,000 healthcare workers and first responders starting next week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference Tuesday morning.

The tests, which will identify likely past coronavirus infections, will be offered at city hospitals, firehouses, police stations and corrections facilities, he said.

Soon passengers on Frontier Airlines flights will be able to pay extra to keep the middle seat of their row empty.

The airline is to offer a “More Room” seating option to guarantee the middle seat stays unoccupied during flights. It allows passengers a modicum of social distance from other people in a situation where it’s not possible to keep six feet apart.

Frontier’s seating option will be offered on flights departing May 8 through August 31, with 18 “More Room” seats available on each flight, though there are anywhere from 26 to 41 rows on the carrier’s aircraft. Tickets start at $39 per passenger.

St. Thomas plans to furlough employees and temporarily cut salaries, among other cost-cutting measures in response to COVID-19, as preparations begin to hold classes both in-person and virtually during fall semester 2020, President Julie Sullivan said in an announcement Friday.

The pandemic has “negatively impacted our finances,” Sullivan wrote.

The university has an $8.1 million revenue shortfall primarily related to student refunds for room and board from spring semester. Additionally, Sullivan expects a $2.1 million loss this summer mostly from the cancellation of summer conferences, external events, fewer students living on campus, and the reduction of dining services and campus store sales.

The university estimates that losses through this upcoming academic year could range between $20 million to $60 million “depending on the severity and duration of the pandemic.”

Maxwell Collier can be reached at Coll7758@stthomas.edu