Flying in the age of coronavirus comes packed with uncertainty about the health status of fellow travelers. Now, Florida's Tampa International Airport is running a pilot program that offers on-the-spot COVID-19 tests for travelers.
With more than 120 people participating in the optional testing per day, Joe Lopano, Tampa International Airport CEO, said the program is showing promising results.
"We've had some customers who have tested positive and Baycare, the healthcare professionals, have a discussion with that passenger and tell them that they should not continue on their way and passengers have accepted it," Lopano told Cheddar.
The airport offers two tests, the $125 PCR nasal swab, which usually takes 3 to 4 days to yield results, and the $50 rapid Antigen test. The cost of both tests, Lopano said, can be covered by insurance companies if travelers provide a receipt from the airport.
Testing at the airport, according to Lopano, will not have much impact on overall travel time. In fact, those not checking a bag only need to account for an additional 30 minutes as a cushion, he added.
"It's immediate testing. Sometimes you have to wait in a short line. You'll get your results in 15 minutes, so it really is not a very time-consuming function and it's very convenient," Lopano said.
While other airports have implemented testing for specific destinations, Lopano said Tampa is the first to offer widespread testing for passengers on all flights arriving and departing. The pilot program is likely to continue running through the holiday season as the number of participants and customer satisfaction is assessed.
For Lopano, offering a testing site at the airport is not only maintaining passenger safety but can also help revitalize a struggling travel industry that is fighting to get customers off the ground.
"It's a high priority because we need to do whatever we can to create confidence in the travel experience and now that widespread testing is available, the technology is available, what better way to do that than right at the airport," he said.
General Motors reported its Q4 earnings Tuesday. While chip shortages impacted sales and revenue last quarter, Paul Jacobson, GM Chief Financial Officer, told Cheddar chip availability has gotten better since Q3. This is crucial as GM has pivoted its focus toward electric vehicles. It recently announced it will be building a new battery plant in Michigan, making $35 billion in EV investments, and producing a million electric vehicles by 2025.
Google’s philanthropy arm, Google.org, recently announced a $10 million grant for the AARP Foundation to aid in teaching digital skills to low income older workers. As the implementation of hybrid work expands, a greater emphasis is being placed on helping workers 50 years old and up — especially among women and people of color — to be digitally literate in order to keep the workplace generationally diverse. Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of the AARP Foundation, joined Cheddar News to talk about the curriculum of the partnership. "Those of us who are 50 and older are not digital natives, so we do have a learning curve that we have to address," she noted.
AT&T announced earlier today it is spinning off its media properties in WarnerMedia in a merger with Discovery in a $43 billion deal.Scott Rostan, founder and CEO at Training The Street, joined Cheddar to talk about what the unwinding of the telecom giant's Time Warner media properties means for investors. "I think the investor sentiment is they're digesting the new information, and they're looking into the dividend, especially the reduction of the dividend," said Rostan, noting the transaction allows AT&T to focus on its core telecommunications business.
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Anthony Saccaro, Founder and President of Providence Financial, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on why he is excited that the market is beginning to rebound and believes February has the potential to be a good month after a turbulent January.
A 2021 report from UK Research and Innovation found that the shipping industry makes up at least 2.5 percent of the world's total CO2 emissions. It's a problem that energy solutions company, Leclanché, is trying to solve. Founded in 1909, the company has been developing and producing batteries for more than 100 years. Today, Leclanché's lithium-ion battery is used to electrify not just ships, but also railroad locomotives, trucks, and specialty vehicles. Cheddar News spoke with Pierre Blanc, chief technology and industrial officer of Leclanché, to discuss.
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
