Covid Prediction with the uses of fitbit | Uses Smartwatches

Fitbit has enrolled over 100,000 participants across the United States and Canada since launching a study to see if its wearable activity trackers could detect early signs of a COVID-19 infection and is now delivering its first, preliminary results 90 days later.

At least 1,100 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus. Fitbit hopes to develop an algorithm that can detect potential cases before symptoms appear by tracking subtle changes in a person’s heart rate, breathing, physical activity, and sleep quality.

The company claims that its devices had detected nearly half of COVID-19 cases at least one day before the participant reported any symptoms of the disease, such as fever, cough, or muscle aches. monitoring our exercise 

Dive Insight:

Efforts to use data from wearables like Fitbit devices to monitor infectious diseases predate the coronavirus pandemic, with groups at Scripps Research Translational Institute and other centers publishing the results of their previous studies. COVID-19, on the other hand, piqued public health experts’ interest as they looked for ways to break viral transmission chains.
Changes in vital signs that occur between viral infection and the onset of symptoms could, in theory, aid early detection of COVID-19, allowing the person to act to prevent others from becoming infected and, if appropriate treatments are available, seek treatment before their condition worsens.
Fitbit began enrolling users in a study earlier this year before sharing early results in August because wearables provide data to support such predictions. On Monday, the company released its full findings.
The subjects’ heart rates and, in particular, their respiratory rates increased in the days leading up to the onset of symptoms.

Fitbit taps into old and new sensors

Fitbit is hoping that the sensors in its wearables will serve as the foundation for a larger push into health tracking. The PurePulse heart rate sensor technology, which began as a taped up prototype in 2011 before making its way into trackers like the Charge 2, Alta HR, and the Ionic smartwatch, is at the heart of this next level tracking.

While this sensor has primarily been used to monitor heart rate during exercise, Shelten Yuen, Fitbit’s head of research, says that its use for vital sign monitoring has always been an area of interest. Through heart rate variability measurements, that sensor can now provide information on resting heart rate and stress. Fitbit believes that by combining its heart rate sensor with its software and algorithm expertise, it will be able to detect a variety of conditions. The key now is for Fitbit’s technology to be able to deliver reliable data in order to provide those insights, which it is no doubt working hard to achieve.

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