In recent years, wearables have grown in popularity. As the number of health-conscious people also grows, the demand for tech that can actively monitor one’s health increases as well. But aside from helping you to stay on top of your health or sending notifications, studies have shown that wearable tech combined with artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to detect COVID-19 infections in people even before they start showing symptoms.
In a study published by Stanford University, experts were able to precisely identify two out of every three people infected with COVID-19 at least four days before they experienced symptoms. They were able to do this by using deviations in people’s resting heart rate. Similar findings were published by Scripps College, which used wearable data information such as heart rate, temperature, sleep, and activity levels. Researchers were able to predict COVID-19 with at least 80% accuracy — a remarkably better result compared to solely tracking people's symptoms.
