2828 F FORTUNE DECEMBER 2020 /JANUARY 2021ORTUNE DECEMBER 2020 /JANUARY 2021
Virtual doc visits are
here to stay
Telemedicine was always
the wave of the future;
the COVID pandemic
just hastened its arrival.
As hospitals remain
overwhelmed with
coronavirus patients,
many medical centers
have had to cut back on
procedures that take
place on-site. CVS and
subsidiary Aetna beefed
up discounts for telehealth
visits during the outbreak,
and the total market could
near $25 billion in the
U.S. alone by 2027. Don’t
expect this wave to crest
post-pandemic.Vaxxers beat out
anti-vaxxers, narrowly
With promising candidates
from Pfizer and Moderna,
medical experts say
they expect widespread
distribution of coronavirus
vaccines by the middle
of 2021. But persuading
people to get one is its
own challenge. Polls havefluctuated but suggest only
50% to 58% of people will
definitely get vaccinated.Face masks will be worn
on New Year’s Eve 2021
There’s a reason why in East
Asian countries you see
people wearing face masks
in public spaces. Some of
that boils down to personal
hygiene preferences. But
regions that have seen
widespread, airborne,
infectious diseases ravage
their communities tend to
keep wearing them even
after the immediate danger
has passed. So don’t be sur-
prised if face masks remain
a part of your daily routine.ACA survives another
ight
A GOP-led lawsuit seeking
to scuttle Obamacare has
already faced skeptical
questioning from conser-
vatives Chief Justice John
Roberts and Justice Brett
Kavanaugh. Expect the
Affordable Care Act to live
another of its nine lives.HEALTHTHE PANDEMIC HAS FOREVER
CHANGED PUBLIC HEALTH
THE BEHAVIORS WE’VE LEARNED DURING
LOCKDOWN ARE NOW JUST HOW WE LIVE.GLOBALBoJo’s Brexit &
China’s Vaccines
The past four years have been but a
prelude to the true chaos of Britain
leaving the European Union.
BREXIT FOOD SHORTAGESAlthough it is now belatedly
spending $1 billion to build new
border infrastructure, the U.K.’s
preparations for Brexit remain in-
complete. Expect miles-long lines of
trucks at U.K. and French ports, and
the very real possibility of food and
medicine shortages.BORIS OUTBoris Johnson may have once
prevaricated about Brexit, but his
political identity is now bound to it.
British businesses will soon learn
the reality of the project, and it is
unlikely to go well. Expect Johnson’s
premiership to meet an early end.CHINA VACCINATES THE WORLDIn 2021, Chinese vaccine makers
will supply more vaccines globally
than Western firms. Chinese com-
panies currently in Phase III trials
are focusing on technologies that
won’t require as much cold storage
capacity as mRNA vaccines from
Pfizer and Moderna, increasing the
likelihood that developing countries
will be able to support importing
and distributing them.HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORDSurface temperatures across 2020
indicated it was in the running to
beat 2016’s inauspicious record, and
2021 could be worse still. That’s
despite global lockdowns that kept
cars o the roads and shut down
factories. But emissions are cumula-
tive, and temperatures don’t drop on
one year alone.Virtual doc visits are
here to stay
Telemedicine was always
the wave of the future;
the COVID pandemic
just hastened its arrival.
As hospitals remain
overwhelmed with
coronavirus patients,
many medical centers
have had to cut back on
procedures that take
place on-site. CVS and
subsidiary Aetna beefed
up discounts for telehealth
visits during the outbreak,
and the total market could
near $25 billion in the
U.S. alone by 2027. Don’t
expect this wave to crest
post-pandemic.Vaxxers beat out
anti-vaxxers, narrowly
With promising candidates
from Pfizer and Moderna,
medical experts say
they expect widespread
distribution of coronavirus
vaccines by the middle
of 2021. But persuading
people to get one is its
own challenge. Polls havefluctuated but suggest only
50% to 58% of people will
definitely get vaccinated.Face masks will be worn
on New Year’s Eve 2021
There’s a reason why in East
Asian countries you see
people wearing face masks
in public spaces. Some of
that boils down to personal
hygiene preferences. But
regions that have seen
widespread, airborne,
infectious diseases ravage
their communities tend to
keep wearing them even
after the immediate danger
has passed. So don’t be sur-
prised if face masks remain
a part of your daily routine.ACA survives another
ight
A GOP-led lawsuit seeking
to scuttle Obamacare has
already faced skeptical
questioning from conser-
vatives Chief Justice John
Roberts and Justice Brett
Kavanaugh. Expect the
Affordable Care Act to live
another of its nine lives.HEALTHTHE PANDEMIC HAS FOREVER
CHANGED PUBLIC HEALTH
THE BEHAVIORS WE’VE LEARNED DURING
LOCKDOWN ARE NOW JUST HOW WE LIVE.GLOBALBoJo’s Brexit &
China’s Vaccines
The past four years have been but a
prelude to the true chaos of Britain
leaving the European Union.
BREXIT FOOD SHORTAGESAlthough it is now belatedly
spending $1 billion to build new
border infrastructure, the U.K.’s
preparations for Brexit remain in-
complete. Expect miles-long lines of
trucks at U.K. and French ports, and
the very real possibility of food and
medicine shortages.BORIS OUTBoris Johnson may have once
prevaricated about Brexit, but his
political identity is now bound to it.
British businesses will soon learn
the reality of the project, and it is
unlikely to go well. Expect Johnson’s
premiership to meet an early end.CHINA VACCINATES THE WORLDIn 2021, Chinese vaccine makers
will supply more vaccines globally
than Western firms. Chinese com-
panies currently in Phase III trials
are focusing on technologies that
won’t require as much cold storage
capacity as mRNA vaccines from
Pfizer and Moderna, increasing the
likelihood that developing countries
will be able to support importing
and distributing them.HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORDSurface temperatures across 2020
indicated it was in the running to
beat 2016’s inauspicious record, and
2021 could be worse still. That’s
despite global lockdowns that kept
cars o the roads and shut down
factories. But emissions are cumula-
tive, and temperatures don’t drop on
one year alone.THE BRIEFTHE BRIEF CRYSTAL BALL CRYSTAL BALLFLAG & THERMOMETER: GETTY IMAGES; JOHNSON: LEON NEALGETTY IMAGES; SYRINGE: EYEEMGETTY IMAGES;FLAG & THERMOMETER: GETTY IMAGES; JOHNSON: LEON NEALGETTY IMAGES; SYRINGE: EYEEMGETTY IMAGES;