How Technology Can Help Fight the Pandemic

Smartwatch Data Detects COVID-19 Symptoms: How Technology Can Help Fight the Pandemic

The global pandemic is far from over, we want to take this opportunity to recognize and applaud the continued heroic efforts by front-line workers—healthcare workers, first responders, service workers, and others—around the world. They put their lives at risk every day to save patients and keep critical operations running.

In these unprecedented times, it’s more important than ever to use all the tools at our disposal to fight the spread of COVID-19. Scientists and researchers are constantly looking for new ways to detect and treat the virus, and smartwatch data may be our latest weapon. A recent study showed that smartwatch sensors could be used to detect early symptoms of COVID-19. This is a huge breakthrough and could help us contain the pandemic before it gets worse.

What are the symptoms of COVID 19, and how can technology help detect them early on?

COVID-19 symptoms can be divided into two categories: mild and severe. The most common symptom is fever, which can be detected by smart watch sensors that track body temperature. Other symptoms include coughing, difficulty breathing, and fatigue. Smartwatches can also be seen as they can track changes in heart rate and sleep patterns.

Severe symptoms, including pneumonia and organ failure, are more difficult to detect, but smartwatch data can still be helpful. For example, a decrease in heart rate may be an early indicator of respiratory illness.

While smartwatches cannot replace traditional methods of diagnosis, they can be used to supplement them. If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, be sure to consult with a medical professional. But if you’re healthy, wearing a smartwatch can help us all fight the pandemic by giving us early warning signs of infection.

While smart technologies cannot replace or compensate public institution measures, they do play a crucial role in emergency responses. Let’s take a look at the promising Applications of how technology can help fight the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Technologies Used for Good

People tend to think of technology as a heartless machine, which is true, but only until it’s used for good. Just look at all the wonderful things we’ve managed to do with its help.

Telemedicine is gaining traction by offering remote patient monitoring and interactive remote doctor’s visits. At the same time, 3D printing and open-source solutions are facilitating the production of more affordable face masks, ventilators, and breathing filters as well as optimizing the supply of the medical equipment. Even more, the pandemic has driven scientists to desperate measures. They are now experimenting with gene editing, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology to develop and test vaccines faster than ever in the history of humanity.

Smart technologies like the Internet of things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) are being massively adopted to help track the disease spread and contagion, manage insurance payments, uphold medical supply chains, and enforce restrictive measures. Let’s go step by step to see how IoT, AI, big data, and mobile solutions are actually enhancing medical care.

IoT for Smart Patient Care Management and Home Automation

IoT has already found its use among healthcare providers. Today, connected patient imaging, health devices or applications, worker solutions, and ambulance programs are being adopted globally. But COVID-19 made the technology take on new applications to help the world combat the epidemic. Tracking quarantine, pre-screening and diagnosing, cleaning and disinfecting, innovative usage of drones, reducing in-home infections, are all “new normals” thanks to IoT.

For example, an American health technology company Kinsa creates smart thermometers that screen and aggregate people’s temperature and symptoms data in real-time. Having gathered data from over one million connected thermometers, Kinsa rolled out its US HealthWeather™ Map.

The map is updated daily, highlighting how severely the population is being affected by influenza-like illness (ILI). This real-time information helps health authorities see an increase. In fevers as early indicators of the community spread of COVID-19 to streamline the allocation of health resources. These areas are marked in the “Atypical” mode of the map.

Smart speakers, lights, and security systems are being used to open doors and switch on lights to reduce in-home infections. These gadgets allow people to avoid touching the surfaces of doorknobs, switches, mail, packages, or anything that could easily spread germs.

The Role of Big Data in Fighting Coronavirus

Tapping into big data is a must to develop real-time forecasts and arm healthcare professionals with a profound database to help with decision-making.

IBM Clinical Development system is an advanced Electronic Data Capture (EDC) platform that allows an accelerated delivery of medications to market and reduces the time and cost of clinical trials thanks to cognitive computing, patient data assets, and IoT. Additionally, the U.S. government had been in active talks with Facebook, Google, and others to determine how to use location data to glean insights for combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Could Mobile Apps be Used to Control the Pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a game-changer for the healthcare continuum. Today’s mobile apps are on guard to help patients receive online therapy, at-home testing, conclude self-checks, and improve mental well-being. Thanks to smartphone apps, it is now possible to trace the virus’s journey and help limit its spread.

Apple COVID-19, for instance, was created in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the White House, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The application contains vital and relevant information from trusted sources on the coronavirus pandemic: hand hygiene practices, social distancing FAQs, quarantine guidelines, self-checking tutorials, tips on cleaning, and disinfecting surfaces. On top of that, it has a screening tool that advises people on what to do when a person has COVID-19 symptoms, has just returned from abroad, or has come in close contact with someone who might be infected with the disease.

Telemedicine has also proved to be an efficient tool for flattening the curve. The Sheba Medical Centre, the largest Israeli hospital, launched a telehealth program for remote patient-monitoring to control the pandemic spread. Doctolib, a Franco-German company, Qare (France), Livi (Sweden), Push Doctor (the UK), Compugroup Medical (Germany) are offering virtual doctors too.

How does the data from smartwatches help to track and monitor symptoms of COVID 19?

Smartwatches are equipped with sensors that can track heart rate. This data is then transmitted to a companion app, which uses algorithms to detect changes in heart rate that may indicate illness.

If you have the following symptoms, caution the possibility of infecting COVID:

• Feeling your heart beat rapidly or irregularly in your chest
• Feeling lightheaded or dizzy, primarily upon standing
• Chest discomfort

Medical information source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

The usual heart rate for an adult is 60-100 bpm, and if the smartwatch detects a heart rate that is lower or higher than the average, it will alert to check with the doctor.

Children their heart rate is usually a little bit higher than adults. Children’s heart rate is 70-120 bpm.

Body Temperature Monitor

A smartwatch can also help detect a fever, a common symptom of COVID-19. In addition, smartwatches use sensors to track body temperature.

Typically, a human’s body temperature is lower than 37.3°C; if the smartwatch detects a body temperature that is higher than 37.3°C, it will give an alert to check with the doctor. If the smartwatch indicates that your body temperature is higher than 39°C, seek medical assistance immediately.

Blood Oxygen Monitor

A smartwatch can also help detect changes in blood oxygen levels, which can be an early symptom of COVID-19. Smartwatches use sensors to track blood oxygen levels.

An average blood oxygen level is between 95% and 100%. If the smartwatch detects a blood oxygen level lower than 95%, it is a sign of possible illness, and you should consult a doctor.

Assess your blood oxygen data on the smartwatch:

• Above 95%: Healthy, or mild COVID symptom
• 93%-94%: Moderate symptoms. Consult a doctor for help
• Below 92%: Severe symptoms. Consider emergency medical help.

Medical information source: NHS website

Sleep Monitor

If you have been infected with COVID and are under self-isolation or medical treatment, good sleep can help you recover faster, and smartwatches can help track your sleep.

There are two types of smartwatch sleep tracking: light and deep.

Light sleep is when you’re between wakefulness and deep sleep. You may be able to hear still what’s going on around you and be easily awoken.

Deep sleep is when you’re in a state of complete rest. Your body is working to repair and rejuvenate itself.

How much sleep do you need?

Most people need between seven and eight hours of sleep a day. During your recovery from COVID, sleep longer so you can recover better.

Smartwatches can help us fight the pandemic by giving us early warning signs of infection.

What other ways is technology being used to help fight the spread of COVID-19? 

Technology plays a significant role in helping fight the spread of COVID-19. From contact tracing apps to smartwatches that can detect early symptoms, there are many ways that technology is helping us stay safe and healthy.

Are there any risks associated with using technology to help detect and fight COVID-19 

Yes, there are always risks associated with using technology. However, the risks associated with using technology to help fight COVID-19 are relatively low. The main risk is that people may not use the technology correctly or may not understand how it works.

And also, the data or advice from a technology product cannot replace medical advice, and you should always consult a doctor if you have any concerns about your health. Smartwatch data is not 100% accurate and should not be used as a replacement for medical advice from a doctor. However, it can be helpful for early diagnostics.

Can Vositone smart watches detect COVID symptoms?

The answer is yes. Vositone smartwatches have all the necessary features to help detect early symptoms of COVID-19.

The most popular vositone smart watches models, V11, V18, and V25, support symptom detection features such as body temperature, blood oxygen, and heart rate. And they also support COVID recovery features such as sleep quality monitor.