The Apple Watch becomes an important tool in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19

The Apple Watch becomes an important tool in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19

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Suppose there was a consumer electronics device that could tell you if you had coronavirus, and could give you results faster than a standard COVID test. According to CBS News, smartwatches like the Apple Watch and those manufactured by Fitbit and Garmin can tell someone if they have a coronavirus before the symptoms appear and even before the water tests are positive. This is important as a recent CDC test found that more than half of coronavirus cases are spread by people who are asymptomatic.

Smart watches can determine if someone has COVID-19 faster than a standard nose swab test

The reports that say how smartwatches can play an important role in COVID-19 testing do not come from technology companies that manufacture these devices. These reports come from legal medical institutions such as Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California. The ease of using a smartwatch to test coronavirus can play an important role in mastering the virus.

Mt. Sinai researchers have discovered that the Apple Watch can detect subtle changes in a person’s heartbeat, indicating that this person has up to seven days of coronavirus before feeling sick or getting a positive result from a standard COVID test. The researchers studied the heart rate variability, which is the variation in time between each heart rate. It can measure how well a person’s immune system is working. Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said: “We already knew that heartbeat change markers change as inflammation develops in the body, and COVID is an incredible inflammatory event. It allows us to predict that people will be infected before they know it. ‘

People with COVID-19 have a lower heart rate variability, which means that the time between their heart rate hardly changes. Those without COVID-19 experience greater variations in the time between heartbeats. Keep in mind that increased heart rate variables have nothing to do with an increased heart rate. A high heart rate variability is a sign of an active nervous system belonging to a person who is stricter. Thus, although a high heart rate is not good for a person’s health, a high heart rate variability may be a good sign.

During the test, 300 Mt. Workers from Sinai wore an Apple Watch during the five months between April 29 and September 29. As Mt. Sinai’s Hirten points out: “Right now we trust people to say they are sick and not feeling well, but wearing an Apple Watch does not require any active user input and can identify people who may be asymptomatic. is a way to be better at controlling infectious diseases. ‘

Another study done by Stanford was based on the theory that 81% of those who tested positive for coronavirus had changes in their heart rate up to nine and a half days before the symptoms first appeared. An extremely high heart rate was a sign that the symptoms of COVID-19 had just begun. Researchers at Stanford used smartwatch data to identify 67% of COVID-19 cases, four to seven days before symptoms first appeared. The team also sounded the alarm to let carriers know that their heart rate had been increased for a long period of time.

Stanford University professor Michael Snyder, who led the study, said: “We set the alarm with a certain sensitivity so that it will go off every two months or so. Frequent fluctuations will not cause the alarm – only significant, sustained Changes will take place. ” Snyder also stated that “it’s a big deal because it warns people not to go out and meet people.” Snyder’s own alarm recently went off and forced him to cancel a personal meeting in case he was contagious. The Stanford study examined 32 people who tested positive for the virus, out of a total of 5,000 people who participated in the study.

Current coronavirus testing has disadvantages that could solve the use of a smartwatch. Snyder points out that ‘the problem is that you can not always do this (standard COVID testing) on ​​people, while these devices measure you 24/7. The smartwatch immediately gives you the data back in real time, while you are happy that you will get your test again within a few days. ‘Most smartwatches can measure the wearer’s heart rate, and the Apple Watch Series 4 and more recent models can perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) that monitors the user’s heart rate.

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