This stamp-like device can check for COVID-19 infection: Here's how
In a bid to fight the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a team of US-based scientists has created a stamp-like device that checks for infection. The wearable tool works automatically round the clock and assesses the breathing and coughing patterns of a person to predict whether they have contracted the virus. Here's all you need to know about it.
Built by researchers at the Northwestern University of Chicago and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the device in question looks like a band-aid that sticks just below a person's throat, where the neck starts. Then, it starts keeping a tab for COVID-19-specific symptoms by monitoring breathing and coughing patterns and looking for possible red flags in connection to it.
The device works by tracking chest wall movements, respiratory sounds, heart rate, and the body temperature of the patient. It "sits at the perfect location on the body, the suprasternal notch, to measure respiratory rate, sounds, and activity because that's where airflow occurs near the surface of the skin," said Northwestern's John A. Rogers, who led the technology development.
With this device, the researchers say, healthy individuals, including frontline health-care workers, could get early warnings of contracting COVID-19 and being symptomatic. But, that is not the only benefit; the researchers claim this patch can also be worn by existing COVID-19 patients to let health-care workers track which treatment options is working more effectively and which is not.
"These sensors have the potential to unlock information that will protect frontline medical workers and patients alike, informing interventions in a timely manner to reduce the risk of transmission and increase the likelihood of better outcomes," said Arun Jayarman, a scientist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
The wearable device packs a small and flexible design and can be charged with an accompanying wireless charger. Notably, when you charge the device, all its data is transmitted to a paired iPad, which then uploads the information to a HIPAA-approved cloud system. Here, the team's algorithms analyze the data to catch early signs and symptoms associated with COVID-19 and return the findings.
Currently, the teams are in the process of scaling up the production of these devices and delivering them to more health-care institutions in the US. 25 people have already been testing the system for three weeks.
