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Among the smartwatch brands that experts hope to use to detect coronavirus are Fitbit.
A group of scientists from Stanford University announced that they are hoping to use smartwatch data to detect coronavirus. With these entries, experts hope to predict the occurrence of a viral infection through these laptops.
The study expects to collect data from 5 different watch brands. However, the main partner of scientists in these tests will be none other than Fitbit.
With this, Stanford Medicine, Fitbit and Scripps Research will launch this new offering. The main goal of the project is to detect the early signs of a viral infection, thanks to smartwatch data.
Coronavirus and smartwatch
According to the researchers, using this type of device various health parameters can be measured. Among them, heart rate and skin temperature can be evidence of COVID-19 infection. This is because these parameters can increase significantly in the body when the immune system fights the pathogen.
For this, scientists, together with partner companies, strive to create various algorithms. Thanks to them, specialists will be able to track when the immune system is active, when faced with a virus or bacteria.
The research team is confident in this new health screening project. If everything is in order, thanks to the measurement, the spread of COVID-19 can be stopped, warning the user about a possible infection through the device.
According to professor and president of genetics at Stanford University Michael Snyder. “These smart watches and other portable devices can take more than 250,000 measurements per day, making them powerful and efficient tracking and monitoring devices.”
The algorithm used by experts began to be developed in 2017. In the project, Snyder worked with computer expert Xiao Li. who is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University.
The operation of the algorithm is as follows:
- It will detect sudden changes in the patient’s heart rate.
- He will measure the body temperature of each of them.
- If these values are constantly increasing over several days, this is the main indication.
- People can deal with COVID-19 asymptomatically.
Coronavirus and Algorithms
However, Snyder notes that they want to shut down the system before use. According to the author of the study, the algorithm should differentiate the context of increasing the user’s heart rate.
This refers specifically to the context that the program defines if a person is involved in sports. In this situation, the expert emphasizes the following.
“Prevention is not a direct diagnosis, and it will be important that people can contextualize their situation while using common sense.”, For this reason, the algorithm is preparing to, in addition to identifying signals, be able to classify and differentiate the virus.
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