The New York City Fire Department announced Sunday that 61-year-old Joseph Ferrugia is its first active firefighter to have died of COVID-19.

He is the 13th member of the FDNY to die of coronavirus.

“This horrific illness has taken far too many lives, and now it has killed a man who bravely served New Yorkers for three decades," Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said in a statement Sunday. "He ran toward danger his entire career, searching for those trapped by flames and doing all he could to save them. Our entire Department mourns his loss.”

Ferrugia joined FDNY in 1990 and was a World Trade Center first responder, the department said.

FDNY said he is survived by his three adult children and three siblings.

Chicago Public Schools pushed back the return of in-person classes for kindergarten through eighth-grade students by one day as negotiations continue between the city and the Chicago Teachers Union.

While the district and union leadership agree on some items of contention in principle, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a press conference Sunday that the union has refused to put those agreements in writing and instead has added more items to the negotiating table that are not related to the public safety issues associated to reopening some classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just minutes before Lightfoot was expected to appear in a presser Sunday, CTU sent a series of tweets that hinted there was not going to be a deal just yet.

The mayor said she still expects CPS teachers to show up to their classrooms despite the dispute. Last week she said that if they do not, she would be forced to take further action, but did not specify what that action would be.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest update Sunday on the country's coronavirus vaccine rollout.

There have been close to 50 million doses distributed around the country, according to the agency's online tracker. Of those doses, 31 million, roughly 62%, have been administered, according to the CDC.

About 25 million people have received their first dose and 5.6 million have received two doses, the CDC said.

A city on Florida’s panhandle put on its Mardi Gras parade as planned, despite its high positivity rate.

Prior to the parade on Saturday, Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay advised residents to take their temperature before attending the event and for everyone who attends the party after the parade and participates in the kid’s zone to wear a mask.

"I would love to focus only on the fun and pageantry of it all because I love Mardi Gras, but we must accept life on life's terms," Lindsay wrote. "Presently we are in the midst of a widespread outbreak of a virus that is not just the flu."

The city currently has a positivity rate of 18%, "well above" the state average of 6.62%, Lindsay wrote. Households affected in Milton reduced from a high of 102 to 90 this week, but the local positivity rate has been as high as 28% and "never lower" than 16%, she added. The population in Milton is about 10,000.

It is unclear how many people attended the event.

Being vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be a requirement to compete in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, organizers said Thursday.

The 2020 Summer Olympics were supposed to kick off in the Japanese capital last year on July 24. But in late March, amid mounting calls to delay or cancel the upcoming Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japan’s prime minister announced that the event would be held a year later due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Games are now scheduled to open in Tokyo this summer on July 23, but doubt has surfaced as Japan — and much of the world — grapples with a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Moreover, Japan is not expected to begin administering its first round of COVID-19 vaccinations until the end of February.

During a press briefing Thursday following a call with the IOC's president, organizers were asked how Japan will safely host the Olympics as scheduled when the country's mass vaccination campaign is not expected to inoculate most of the population by that date.

"Since last year, we have been having thorough debates and discussions on that topic. We do not consider the vaccine as a prerequisite," Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, told reporters. "Of course, it's desirable to have as many people as possible vaccinated, and that would bring about positive benefit. But even if vaccination is not done, we will be able to hold the Games."

Muto added that COVID-19 vaccinations would be administered to athletes but it wouldn't be an obligation.

As for vaccinating staff and volunteers, Muto said that decision will be made at the national government level.

Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, said they are still considering holding the Games without spectators.

“One option among many would be to hold the games without spectators," he told reporters. "We don’t want to do this but we must take this scenario into consideration."

With less than six months left until the opening day, a recent poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo found that around 80% of people in Japan believe the Tokyo Olympics should not be held this summer. When asked by ABC News about that opinion, Mori said: "There is a balance. On one hand there is criticism, the other hand is support."

Mori noted that the IOC's president has "strongly backed up our efforts" to hold the Tokyo Olympics as planned.

"Nowhere did we hear objections or doubt," he told reporters. "Everyone wants to successful hold the games."

ABC News' Anthony Trotter and Karson Yiu contributed to this report.