Good afternoon, readers.
It’s that time of year again. Yes, the time of year when public health experts bug you to get your flu shot.
We all know that the flu shot isn’t perfect. Sure, you may still get influenza after getting your yearly jab. Sure, its effectiveness varies wildly from year to year given that the flu virus mutates.
But the pathogen still kills tens of thousands of people every year—one of the main reasons that those trying to downplay the coronavirus risk have compared that virus to influenza.
This year, however, COVID has already claimed more than 200,000 American lives in a far shorter timeline than what we see from the flu. And as we step towards October, flu season will rear its head again as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage unabated.
That’s a problem on multiple fronts. For one thing, it might be difficult to distinguish who has the flu and who has COVID. Hospitals may continue to see surging cases of both diseases which can drain their resources. And a country eager to just get back to normal may not be willing to avoid close indoor contact during the holiday season.
Read on for the day’s news, and see you again next week.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
Google Maps adds a COVID feature. Google's latest Maps update will soon show users how prevalent COVID is in their region. It will be a rolling average of seven days among every 100,000 people—but it's a striking example of digital contact tracing that's already been deployed in multiple other countries. While Johns Hopkins University, the New York Times, and Wikipedia are primarily feeding the system's data, you can trace the source all the way to the World Health Organization (WHO). It will reportedly be available on both iOS and Android devices. (CNN)
INDICATIONS
The state of the 4 major coronavirus vaccine candidates. I explored the state of play for the four COVID vaccine candidates that are, at least in the U.S., furthest down the line—experimental treatments from Pfizer and partner BioNTech, upstart biotech Moderna, the U.K.'s Moderna and Oxford, and Johnson & Johnson, which made waves this week through its rigorous trial design and a dosing regimen which, if effective, would only require one shot of its treatment. More details here. (Fortune)
THE BIG PICTURE
A post-RBG Supreme Court has huge implications for health care. The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has thrown the political circle into a maelstrom. But partisan theatrics aside, what happens next could determine the fate of health care for millions of Americans. The Trump administration has openly declared war upon the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, seeking to strike down the law in its entirety. That's a consequential stance in the midst of a pandemic given that insurers could, theoretically, revert to the bad old days of pre-existing medical conditions being a reason to preclude people from coverage or jack up their prices. The Trump administration has stated that it would not let that happen by issuing executive orders—however, such orders would likely not be enforceable without underlying legislation which currently doesn't exist.
REQUIRED READING
Health care stocks could break out after the election, by Anne Sraders
How to make A.I. smarter, by Jonathan Vanian
The activist employee hasn't gone away, by Geoff Colvin