Wearable Tech Enters the Fight Against Covid-19
Health trackers like Fitbits and smartwatches can help detect the coronavirus before symptoms appear. But data gaps and privacy fears remain.
Wearable fitness trackers like this Fitbit have shown promise as an early detection device for Covid-19. But the populations that need them most tend not to own them.
Photographer: Rachel Murray/Getty Images
The prospect of suddenly falling gravely ill with no early symptoms is one of the coronavirus’s many frightening aspects, one that Monica Valencia understands all too well. In July, a family member died of Covid-19 after an extremely short illness that seemed to come out of nowhere. Only one symptom, shortness of breath, ever manifested. Within days, the relative was dead.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through what my family went through,” Valencia said.