Can your wearable detect coronavirus? Fitbit and King’s College London’s new app wants to find out

Data gathered from the app will allow scientists to investigate if wearables can help detect the virus 
Fitbit
Amelia Heathman24 July 2020

Wearables are a hot topic in the world of global pandemics, from the devices that can tell you if you’re within less than two metres of someone, to a wristband that buzzes when you’re about to touch your face.

Fitbit wants to take this a step further and see if wearable tech can help digitally detect coronavirus. The global wearable company has teamed up with King’s College London to launch a new app that will allow the scientists to investigate if the use of wearables and smartphones can help detect the disease, as well as understand how the virus spreads and how the pandemic is affecting people’s mental and physical health.

Professor Richard Dobson, head of department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) which is funding the research, said: “There are more than 8 million regular wearable device users in the UK and the data generated from these devices could be really important in helping our understanding of disease onset and disease trajectories, provide regional disease surveillance and support a safe lockdown release.

“This is a really important project that builds on our previous and ongoing experience in remotely monitoring disease and mental health, and development of our open-source platforms."

The new Mass Science app is available to download now for iOS and Android devices. Participants who are keen to take part in the Covid-Collab study can connect Fitbit devices and other wearables to the app to share information such as heart rate, activity and sleep. They will also be able to provide other information, such as geographic location, mood and mental health, as well as if they are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms or have tested positive for the disease.

King’s College’s Covid-Collab research team will analyse the data, particularly focusing on heart rate and activity when a participant reports feeling ill or tests positive for the virus. The team hopes to use this information to develop a potential digital test for early warning signs of coronavirus by comparing data around times of reported illness with normal healthy periods.

Study lead, Dr Amos Folarin, the software development group leader at the NIHR BRC, said if the app leads to a digital test for the virus it could be a “game-changer,” particularly in the event of a second wave.

“When you indicate you are experiencing symptoms in the app, we’ll be able to look at your data before, during and after this period and compare it to your healthy baseline data. Passive monitoring of symptoms coupled with movement data could be very useful as lockdown is cautiously lifted across the country. As shops, schools and other businesses reopen we expect an overall increased movement of population and potential for a second wave of Covid-19,” said Folarin.

People are encouraged to report when they're feeling well as well as experiencing Covid-19 symptoms (Fitbit )
Fitbit

As well as working with King’s College, Fitbit is also working with institutions such as The Scripps Research Translation Institute and The Stanford Healthcare Innovation lab in the US, as well as launching its own Fitbit Covid-19 study at the start of the pandemic to see if it could build an algorithm to detect the virus before symptoms start.

“In light of the global pandemic, Fitbit’s mission to help people get healthier has never been more important. We’ve seen early evidence from the Fitbit Covid-19 Study that data from wearables have the potential to serve as a powerful public health tool by helping to identify people with viral illnesses such as Covid-19,” said Nicola Maxwell, Director for Fitbit Health Solutions in EMEA.

“The new Mass Science mobile app by the research team at King’s College London has the potential to leverage the power of community to explore how wearables like Fitbit devices can broaden our understanding of Covid-19 and how the illness affects people’s health.”

There are other ways you can contribute to coronavirus research with your smartphone. King’s is also running another app, the Covid Symptom Study, in partnership with the NHS and powered by the tech company Zoe. Over 4 million people are using the app regularly to report symptoms, even when they’re feeling well, in order to contribute to research around the virus.

To find out more about Fibit’s Covid Collab Research Study visit covid-collab.org, and you can download the Mass Science App on iOS and Android to take part.