As businesses begin to re-open from the COVID-19 directive, one chief concern is how to insure a safe workplace that is free from the virus. Monitoring individuals for symptoms is one way to reduce risk during these opening stages, promptly identifying who may return to work and who may still pose a risk. FinancialBuzz.com, a leading financial news informational web portal, published a summary of technology research underway that is offering promise against COVID-19, specifically wearable devices.
Researchers at Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago are introducing a novel wearable device that incorporates a set of data algorithms specifically designed to identify the first signs and symptoms associated with the viral infection. The device then helps monitor patients 24/7 as the illness progresses and uses continuous streams of data combined with artificial intelligence to uncover subtle, but critical life-saving insights.
In other research Stanford Medicine and its collaborators are working on a wearable device designed to predict the onset of viral infection through the use of data generated from the wearable technology. The researchers are developing algorithms that will capture when an individual’s immune system is at work—tapping into body functions such as heart rate and skin temperature that rise when the body is fighting off an infection.
“Smartwatches and other wearables make many, many measurements per day — at least 250,000, which is what makes them such powerful monitoring devices,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, Professor and Chair of Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine.
Meanwhile Nemaura Medical, Inc. is planning to repurpose its’ sugarBEAT® as a Continuous Temperature Monitor (CTM) because it has an inbuilt temperature sensor that can continuously track body temperature through the skin. The company is now exploring various paths to move up its launch.
CTM’s have been viewed as a very promising technology in the battle against COVID-19, affirmed most publicly when Google’s Verily announced its development of a small body worn temperature patch capable of transmitting data to a phone app that timely notifies the wearer of fever. This device offers earlier diagnosis and treatment of viral infections like the flu or coronavirus1.
Dr. Faz Chowdhury, Nemaura’s CEO explains the great potential of their devices, stating, “We believe that there are parallels between family members and caregivers remotely monitoring glucose fluctuations in a person, and monitoring fever caused by viral infections, providing a means of remote tracking and intervention.”
Several diseases including COVID-19 are characterized by fever (an increase in body temperature) so early detection via temperature monitoring could offer an effective means of containing the spread of the disease through early self-isolation. Measuring body temperature on a continuous basis may be a way to track the course of a disease, allowing physicians to analyze the effectiveness of treatments and then pro-actively adapt to improve outcomes.
Dr. Chowdhury further stated ‘body temperature can vary depending on the age of the person, their level of (recent) physical activity, the time the measurement is taken and importantly where on the body the temperature is taken. For this reason, I believe that the ability to track the temperature continuously over time and measure the rate at which it is rising or falling would be a superior form of monitoring a person than sporadic measurements taken using a more traditional thermometer.’
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