For three years the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Center has equipped 30,000 people with smart rings and smartphone apps to determine, before any signs of illness, whether they had influenza.
So it required only some computer algorithm adjustments to launch a pilot project in March to monitor 200 front-line healthcare professionals for COVID-19 and determine the presence of infection and potential for contagion 24 hours before flu symptoms emerge. Within a week, 1,000 healthcare workers will be wearing the rings and using the apps with expectations that in a month participation will grow to 10,000 in West Virginia, Philadelphia, New York, Florida and elsewhere to determine how effectively the system provides early warning signs of infection.