I like simulation games like these a lot. I think it fit the theme really well and is a clever way to include the wild cards too. I'd recommend adding some kind of visual to display the amount of healthy/infected people because it can be hard to envision big numbers just by themselves.
I found myself losing a lot due to mistrust, so my strategy changed to always invest as much as I can into advertising, and then the game got a lot more fun because I got more funds. The top headline/new variants were nice features to contrast all the numbers. Good job!