Slated to roll out to both the Android and iOS versions of the app later this week, the new feature adds a “COVID” layer to the map. By switching it on, users will see an overlay of COVID-19 data for a given area, including information like the seven-day average of confirmed cases per 100 people, case rate denoted by color-coded shading, and a label marking if cases are going up or down.
According to a blog post announcing the feature, Google is getting the data from “authoritative” sources like Johns Hopkins and The New York Times, which in turn get their data from health authorities like the World Health Organization.