Click here to view this email in your browser. 

April 17, 2020

Welcome to this edition of The Reader, your weekly roundup of Fortune stories and insights you need to know. As the pandemic surges on, we're reporting on how the virus is challenging various industries, such as how the $2 trillion stimulus package will test fintech's newest players. 

COVID-19 continues to impact the world. South Korea underwent the world's first election in the coronavirus era. The future of privacy and government surveillance is in flux. Plus, 32 different COVID tests received emergency approval in the U.S. in the past month—and we break down the important details.

Please consider becoming a Premium member of Fortune. You’ll not only get to read all of our award-winning reporting and enjoy other benefits of membership, but you’ll also be supporting independent, authoritative journalism during an era when we need it most.

I hope you have a safe and healthy week.

Clifton Leaf

Editor-in-chief, Fortune

NurPhoto—Contributor

MUST READ

The coronavirus is fintech’s biggest test—and its greatest opportunity

Companies like SoFi, Robinhood, and Chime were built on promises of providing consumers and businesses with easier access to money online. With thousands of bank branches shuttered and millions of Americans waiting for direct deposits, it's time for fintech to deliver. 

APRIL 15, 2020

MUST WATCH

"The most challenging period of time in my professional life"

Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian explains how he's furloughed employees rather than laid them off, so they can apply for unemployment benefits but keep their health care. Meanwhile, he's already thinking about a future dilemma: how to reopen hotels before a vaccine is available.

MARCH 31, 2020

Here's a peek of Fortune Analytics, our exclusive newsletter for Premium subscribers that brings you weekly business insights based on our own data. 

This week, we surveyed 5,755 U.S. workers on how they've been personally impacted by the economic slowdown. A few things we found noteworthy:

18%

• ... of the U.S. workforce say they've lost their jobs. Another 29% say they've seen their hours or pay cut.

22%

• ... of employed U.S. adults are worried they will lose their jobs. On the other hand, 52% say they aren't worried. Unsurprisingly, low-income adults are more worried (57%) than high-income ones (35%).

41%

• ... of white workers are worried about losing their jobs. In contrast, 55% of black workers and 57% of Hispanic workers say they're worried. The impacts of the pandemic are hitting communities of color hardest.
  

To get the full briefing on how the pandemic is hurting the U.S. workforce, consider becoming a Fortune Premium subscriber. You'll also get access to all of our stories on the web and in print.

Your support makes our journalism possible. Thank you.

More essential reads

• Robots could save grocers—if they survive the pandemic by Jeremy Kahn
• How movie theaters can make a comeback after the coronavirus pandemic by Dan Reilly
• Coalminers are considered ‘essential’ in crisis but are they safe? by Nicole Goodkind
• How Fortune 500 companies are responding to the pandemic by Jaclyn Gallucci and Maithreyi Seetharaman 
  
  

From the archives

“As a global agency, WHO has adapted a system to assess the number of countries and regions affected, so its top-numbered categories describe spread, not death rate. So while swine flu indeed became one of the most widespread diseases in human history, it did not have the death rate with which we assume a pandemic is usually associated. In this case, a nuance, but what a misleading nuance. Will people treat the next pandemic, which could be far more lethal, less seriously now that they’ve seen—and survived—a mild one?”

—How to prevent the next global crisis by Larry Brilliant, March 2010

. 

This email was sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe  | Edit your newsletter subscriptions

Did someone share this with you? Subscribe here.

Fortune Media (USA) Corporation

40 Fulton Street New York, NY. 10038