Roughly 40 million people are estimated to wear a fitness tracker of some kind. Now one of those brands, Fitbit, has teamed up with researchers to try and predict COVID-19 symptoms before they start.
Dr. Michael Snyder with Stanford University’s School of Medicine says they were first able to use the technology to help them catch early signs of Lyme disease.
KIVI-TV reports Stanford’s study first evaluated six months of data in a majority of patients who tested positive for COVID-19. Their research showed COVID-19 patients had an elevated resting heart rate up to nine days before showing any symptoms of the virus.
The next phase of Stanford’s study starts soon. People who have a fitness tracker can sign up and anonymously share their fitness data. Then, they can get alerted when researchers detect an elevated resting heart rate and possible early signs of contracting a virus.
People can sign up for Stanford’s study by logging into their Fitbit app or heading to innovations.stanford.edu.
