A smart patch placed on your throat could determine if you have coronavirus before symptoms appear

A smart patch could detect the first symptoms of the coronavirus and alert health care personnel before symptoms arise.

About the size of a postage stamp, the soft, flexible device sits at the base of the throat and uses sensors to measure factors associated with the virus, such as heart rate and cough.

The device transmits the data to a private server where the algorithms create graphical summaries for analysis by health authorities.

Hospitals can use technology for patients in the center and at home to receive continuous care.

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About the size of a postage stamp, the soft, flexible device sits at the base of the throat and uses sensors to measure factors, such as heart rate and cough, associated with the virus.

Currently, more than two dozen affected people are wearing the patch developed by a team from Northwestern University.

John Rogers, a Northwestern engineer and technology development leader, said: ‘The most recent studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that the first signs of a COVID-19 infection are fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

“Our device is in the perfect location on the body, the suprasternal notch, to measure respiratory rate, sounds, and activity because that’s where airflow occurs near the skin’s surface.”

Rogers and his team aim to use the patch to help healthcare workers monitor patients both in a hospital and while at home, allowing 24-hour, 7-day-a-week supervision, without put staff at risk.

The device transmits the data to a private server where the algorithms create graphic summaries for health authorities to analyze

Hospitals can use technology for patients in the center and at home to receive continuous care.

The device offers the potential to identify symptoms and detect trends before workers notice them, thus providing an opportunity to take appropriate precautionary measures and seek additional evidence as quickly as possible.

Measure a person’s cough, breathing patterns, heart rate, and body temperature, along with other factors associated with the coronavirus.

This data is then transmitted to what research calls a ‘cloud protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)’ for monitoring.

“No one has collected this type of data before,” Rogers said.

‘Early detection is always better and our devices provide important and unique capabilities in that context.

The device offers the potential to identify symptoms and detect trends before workers notice them, thus providing an opportunity to take appropriate precautionary measures and seek additional evidence as quickly as possible.

More than two dozen affected people are wearing the patch developed by a team from Northwestern University.

“For patients who have contracted the disease, the value is even clearer, as the data represents quantitative information on respiratory behavior, as a mechanism to track progression and / or effects of treatments.”

Rogers and his team hope that the device will not only tell doctors how to best treat the disease, but also inform researchers about the nature of the virus.

“The increasing amount of information and understanding about COVID-19 as a disease will be vital to contain and treat the current outbreak, as well as those that may occur in the future,” said Rogers.

“We hope, and believe, that these devices can assist in these efforts by identifying and quantifying the essential characteristics and characteristics of cough and respiratory activity associated with this disease.”

The team is developing dozens of devices each week at a facility in Chicago, Illinois, and hopes to expand operations to meet the need as the outbreak continues to spread.