Now Launching Near You: the “Health Weather”

Wisely or not — from both a legal and public health standpoint — a federal judge last week invalidated the CDC’s mask mandate on public transportation, essentially accelerating our “return to normalcy.” Whether you greeted this decision with relief or frustration, the consequence of the decision is that more than ever, Americans will assume greater personal responsibility for managing their risk of illness.

While abrupt, the judge’s decision is in reality a continuation of the direction we’ve been heading in for several months. As restrictions lift, even in the most cautious areas of the country, there is a more emphasis on tailoring personal behavior according to your individual risk tolerance, and adjusting as that risk changes with future variants and even future epidemics.

Perhaps this evolution was inevitable. But if a strategy of personal risk management is to succeed, Americans need the best possible information about their risk level, and how to effectively modify their behavior to reduce that risk. This is especially tricky when general safety precautions, like universal masking on airplanes, evaporate overnight — leaving a great deal of uncertainty about how this change impacts the risk of infection.

That’s why real-time information about spreading illness is more important than ever. With knowledge about what’s going around in your area — and an area you’re considering traveling to — individuals and families can more effectively decide which activities they are comfortable with. A local surge may suggest avoiding a crowded museum, but a picnic in the park may be perfectly reasonable.

Kinsa has been helping people understand their local risk since 2020, when we first launched our US HealthWeather™ map, believing it was a moral imperative to make this life-saving data available to the public, government officials, public health experts and key decision makers. Finally, the federal government is seeing the value of real-time data. I’m excited to see the official launch of the CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFOA). Their approach: a “weather service” for illness. Sounds familiar!

Ultimately, the success of the CFOA depends on the quality of its data. Since March 2020, and for several years before, Kinsa has prided itself on having the earliest and most accurate data on where and when illness starts and spreads, as a result of our ability to talk to households as soon as symptoms strike. I’m eager to support the CFOA however we can to ensure that the goal of a true weather service for illness is realized. Together, we just may prevent the next outbreak from becoming a pandemic.