With the incidence of new COVID-19 cases growing by the day, healthcare stakeholders are continuing to search for tools and medications to help stem the tide.
We have seen the digital health community release a slew of new tools aiming to monitor the spread of the disease and facilitate better treatment. And it sounds as if there’s still more to come, as just this morning CNBC reported that tech giants Facebook, Amazon and Google were sitting down with the World Health Organization to talk about their role in combating the spread of disease, as well as misinformation.
As of this morning there are 109,578 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, according to WHO. The medical community has rushed to search for solutions to the spread of the disease with a big push for vaccine and medicine research.
Tech has a history of helping the medical industry track and treat viruses. Among more recent examples is flu tracking. In 2018 the US experienced a particularly severe flu season. During this time aggregated user data collected through Kinsa’s smart connected thermometers indicated illness spikes across the country.
Want to publish your own articles on DistilINFO Publications?
Send us an email, we will get in touch with you.
Even more recently, a Scripps Research Translational Institute study published in The Lancet Digital Health found that resting-heart-rate and sleep-duration data collected from Fitbit devices could help inform timely and accurate models of population-level influenza trends.
In terms of COVID-19, we are seeing another rise in digital epidemiology tools, chatbot helpers, EHR guidance tools and rapid-response test kits.
Read on for a list of how health organizations, governments and digital health vendors are using technology to tackle the COVID-19 crisis:
Speedy testing. Everlywell announced that it is working to develop a take-home coronavirus test that will be available soon. The company said it plans to offer the test at cost, with no profit to the company. The test will allow users to collect samples at home and then ship their sample to a lab.
The test results will then be available within 3 to 5 days online. The home test kit will include an overnight delivery label, a telemedicine consultation for those with positive results and the disease-sample collecting kit.
Test, assess. Direct-to-consumer virtual health company Ro is offering free COVID-19 triage telehealth assessment. After a user has completed the online assessment, Ro will connect them with a provider if it’s deemed appropriate. The follow-up may be done through phone, or by text or video chat.
In a Medium post the company’s CEO, Zachariah Reitano, said that the tool had been developed using guidelines from infectious-disease specialists, as well as those from the CDC and World Health Organization. Reitano said the new effort was created in part to help unburden hospitals and advise symptomatic patients about next steps.
Short term tele-fix. MeMD is launching a short-term telehealth business to address the needs of coronavirus patients. Companies can now purchase a 90-day virtual health package called Total Telehealth-Rapid Response.
“With telehealth, we can stem the flow of patients to crowded ERs, mitigate the spread of the virus and still ensure that people get the care they need,” said Bill Goodwin, CEO of MeMD. “Short-term telehealth options make it possible for businesses to navigate a very uncertain time.”
Alexa I need some advice. Voice-powered health tech company Orbita launched a new coronavirus-focused virtual assistant. The free tool is able to be integrated into other platforms, including scheduling and telemedicine applications. It comes equipped with a conversational question-and-answer format and screen tools based on CDC formats. Organizations also have the ability to integrate their custom content into the tech.
“We asked ourselves in recent weeks, ‘What can we do to make a difference?,’ and we quickly arrived at a logical decision for our company,” Orbita CEO Bill Rogers said in a statement. “We’re providing this COVID-19-specific chatbot free of charge to bring immediate support to organizations now scrambling to educate the public, provide rapid triage, and reduce infection risk, all within constraints of limited resources and rapidly changing circumstances.”
Source: MobiHealth News