Voting During The Pandemic | Ritual Disrupts Vitamins | Massive Metal Asteroid

Plus: Why Face Shields And Plexiglass Barriers Don’t Block Coronavirus

We are heading into the home stretch with one week before the presidential election on November 3. Different states are taking different approaches ranging from early voting at polling sites to mail-in ballots to secure drop boxes. Forbes contributor Dr. Bruce Lee offers tips on voting in person, like scoping out your polling place in advance. And you can also check out the non-partisan group HealthyVoting.org, with tips from the American Public Health Association and others. 

One of the recurring issues during the presidential debates and town halls has been the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Congress approved President Trump’s nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Tuesday along party lines. Michael Neidorff, the CEO of health insurer Centene said he was “relatively confident” the court won’t overturn the law, even with a conservative majority, and put people “on the streets with no insurance” during the pandemic. Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen reports the insurer’s bottom line has benefitted from more people enrolling in Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income Americans, and it’s on track to exceed $109 billion in 2020 revenue.

Any questions? Send me an email at kjennings@forbes.com.

Katerina Markov Schneider, a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum, is working to disrupt the $36 billion vitamin and supplement market. When she was pregnant with her first child, Schneider couldn’t find a prenatal vitamin she trusted. This led her to found Ritual and conduct a clinical study of the company’s multivitamin for adult women. Ritual has a vitamin subscription service for women and men ($30 a month) that is shipping a new bottle every 16 seconds. The company recently launched a teen vitamin and finally the prenatal vitamin that gave Schneider the idea in the first place.

Noteworthy

The World Health Organization is warning of a “dangerous moment,” as most of the globe sees a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Jeff Bridges aka “The Dude” has lymphoma, a type of cancer. Here are five things to know about it. 

The Trump administration is sending mixed messages on the opioid epidemic as the election looms. 

HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest operator of hospitals, continued to see cancellations of elective surgeries, though it still reported net income in the third quarter of more than $2 billion. 

Are trials that test vaccines by  deliberately infecting people with Covid-19 really necessary? 

The pandemic is ushering in a new way of thinking about homes and communities as healthcare hubs, according to hospital design experts. 

Across Forbes

• Scientists Just Discovered A Way To Treat Down Syndrome Prenatally — In Mice

• Hubble Examines Massive Metal Asteroid Called ‘Psyche’ That’s Worth Way More Than Our Global Economy

• Harvard Joins MIT In Backing $250 Million Venture Fund Targeting Hard-Sell Startups

• Google Doodle Celebrates Stamen Grigorov, Who Discovered The Bacteria That Makes Yogurt

What Else We Are Reading

• OxyContin maker Purdue to plead guilty over opioid practices, deal sparks opposition (Reuters)

• Bayer to buy gene therapy company AskBio for as much as $4 billion (STAT)

• Amid pandemic, U.S. has seen 300,000 ‘excess deaths,’ with highest rates among people of color (STAT)