BARDA, Evidation Health partner on COVID-19 self-monitoring study

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is pleased to announce a partnership with Evidation Health of San Mateo, California. The partnership will launch a pilot study in which researchers will monitor healthcare workers and first responders by leveraging de-identified, patient-generated health data from existing wearable devices as an early warning algorithm to identify early symptoms of COVID-19.

This study is part of BARDA’s Rapidly Deployable Capabilities program to identify and pilot near term innovative solutions for identifying individuals who have COVID-19 infections. Individual and population-based data will be collated into computer models to improve “real-time” COVID-19 incidence prediction of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and enhance current disease surveillance systems to detect respiratory infections prior to the onset of symptoms.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is highly transmissible and is causing unprecedented social behavior changes in the country as many are being impacted by stay-at- home guidance’s from health officials. One of the biggest challenges with combating the virus is being able to detect those who are infected but either have not yet progressed to symptoms or will not show symptoms of the disease, as these individuals may be able to transmit without realizing it. In addition, the symptoms of COVID-19 appear to vary greatly in individuals and over the course of infection, and these will be correlated with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and hospitalization.

This project builds on Evidation’s current partnership with BARDA to monitor individuals for respiratory infections, such as influenza. This pilot study will demonstrate utility of empowering Americans with a novel means of self-monitoring to improve health outcomes for COVID-19. The study will initially focus on healthcare workers and first responders, but has the potential for large-scale deployment to allow Americans to determine risk of COVID-19 and to appropriately implement precautions against spread of COVID-19 and other such diseases.

Read more: https://medicalcountermeasures.gov/newsroom/2020/evidaton-health-wearable/