Emergency medical workers in San Francisco are wearing smart rings that can monitor body temperature in an effort to detect COVID-19 symptoms early
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San Francisco General Hospital changed its name to Zuckerberg San Francisco General in 2015 after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $75 million to the 147-year-old institution.
Emergency medical workers at two hospitals in San Francisco will begin wearing smart rings that can detect their body temperature and other metrics in an attempt to detect coronavirus infections early, according to a report from The San Francisco Chronicle.
Staff at UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital will begin wearing smart rings made by wearable tech startup Oura, which makes a ring that can monitor a wearer's sleep, heart rate, temperature, and steps.But over the long term, Mason wants to use the rings to gather data from both healthy people and those infected with the coronavirus to learn about early warning signs that may precede symptoms, the report says.
In addition to the 2,000 medical staff in San Francisco that will be wearing the rings, USCF is also urging Oura's 150,000 customers to share their medical data to help researchers create an algorithm for early detection.The initiative comes as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States. More than 2,000 coronavirus cases and 42 deaths have been reported in California, and the state is under a "shelter in place" order. Across the US, there have now been at least 581 deaths and more than 46,200 cases across all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Oura's $300 smart ring is marketed as a health and fitness device for monitoring sleep, activity, and a category the company calls "readiness," which includes metrics like resting heart rate, body temperature deviation, and heart rate variability among others. The company recently raised $28 million in Series B funding from Forerunner Ventures, Gradient Ventures, and Square.Get the latest coronavirus news and updates on how COVID-19 impacts our daily lives and businesses.
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