Fitbit, the Scripps Research Institute and Stanford Medicine have formed a research consortium to detect, track and contain infectious diseases through Fitbit data. There reportedly exists some evidence that wearables like the Fitbit bracelet can help predict certain infections before symptoms appear. The new effort is meant to help predict Covid-19 infection in particular. The Scripps Research Translational Institute, located in California, recently launched an app-based program, called Detect, to use wearable-generated data such as heart rate, sleep and activity levels to predict viral infections. The consortium is maintaining an open invitation to other, similar institutions to take part.
In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) already seems to have made a little more progress regarding health data collection for prediction of infectious diseases: We have already reported about the recent launch of an app developed by the RKI in collaboration with Thryve, an e-health company that has been an application programming interface partner of another manufacturer of wearables, Garmin, since 2017. The RKI app is available for iOS and Android devices and supports, besides Garmin devices, all devices connected via GoogleFit and AppleHealth as well as devices from Fitbit, Polar and Withings/Nokia.
Photo: © Polar
