This Smart Ring Is Being Used To Detect Early Signs of COVID-19

The problem with the COVID-19 virus is that the virus can incubate within the person’s body for as long as a couple of weeks, meaning that there could be many infected out there who aren’t exhibiting any signs until it is too late and they might have infected many others in between. However, a smart ring by the name of Oura could help with that problem.

2,000 Oura Rings have been distributed to workers at the UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. These rings can be used to measure the vitals of the wearer, such as heart rate, body temperature, HRV, and calorie burn, but it is now being used in a study to see if it has the potential to help detect the COVID-19 virus in the wearer early on so that they can either seek treatment or put themselves in self-quarantine.

According to Dr. Ashley Mason, the UCSF assistant psychiatry professor who developed the project, “It will help people self-quarantine sooner, get treatment sooner. It’s expected back in the fall and we need to have tools ready.” In an example case, Finnish CEO Petri Hollmén was wearing the ring when one day it alerted him that his body temperature was 1 degree Celsius higher than normal.

Hollmen claims he felt fine, but after getting tested, it was discovered that he had the COVID-19 virus. According to Hollmen, “Without a device telling me this, I would’ve just thought that I was a bit tired due to the dog waking me up twice during the night.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets, Medical
Tags: Coronavirus, covid-19, Health, Social Hit, Wearable Tech