Researchers Are Investigating If Wearable Wellness Devices Could Help Identify COVID-19

The University of California San Francisco has teamed up with OURA smart ring to explore whether the data from the OURA smart rings could help detect COVID-19 early on.

More than 2,000 frontline healthcare workers who come in contact with potential COVID-19 patients will participate in the study. They will be wearing the rings for 3 months and completing daily surveys to report if they have any symptoms of the illness.

The OURA Rings monitor a user’s heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, and sleep. While it is not proven that these wearable wellness devices could help detect COVID-19, researchers are hoping that tracking the changes in these measurements may help predict the illness before any symptoms have arisen (if they ever do).

This would also supposedly help researchers better understand the early warning signs of the infection and when a user should isolate themselves from others. After the study is completed, the researchers hope that the OURA Ring could help detect COVID-19 as many as two to three days before more obvious symptoms, such as coughing, manifest.

But, turns out, the OURA Ring isn’t the only device that could help fight COVID-19! A health company called Kinsa tracks the spread of the virus across the US by using data from its smart thermometers. This may help detect where outbreaks of COVID-19 are developing before any cases are actually reported.

If you are an OURA Ring owner and would also like to participate in the study, you are more than welcome to apply. If you qualify, you will be asked to complete daily surveys and share your health data with the OURA Ring app.