Apple Watch Can't Detect COVID-19
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The Claim
Apple Watch can detect if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
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Emerging story
Apple Watch 6 could contain a blood oxygen sensor creating the very real possibility in the fight against Covid-19.
A new study has shown that Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, and other devices can detect COVID-19 even before the wearer has a clue if they’re infected.
Thus, another new study from Mount Sinai Health System in New York, reported by CBS News, has found that smartwatches capable of continuous or frequent heart rate monitoring can detect subtle changes in a wearer’s heartbeat. These changes can signal the wearer has COVID-19 as early as seven days before any symptoms are felt or the infection can be picked up in testing. The study followed almost 300 Mount Sinai health care workers with Apple Watches between April 29 and September 29, 2020.
Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said: "Our goal was to use tools to identify infections at the time of infection or before people knew they were sick. We already knew that heart rate variability markers change as inflammation develops in the body, and Covid is an incredibly inflammatory event. It allows us to predict that people are infected before they know it.”
Research has shown wearable data could discover health problems including high blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, and early-stage cancer. A study published in the Lancet Digital Health journal in January set the stage for using the same approach to anticipate the spread of Covid-19. It found that data from a Fitbit could predict the number of influenza-like illnesses in the general population as well as or better than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s epidemiological models. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, says that wearables could work even better for the coronavirus. “It has the advantage of being simple, continuous, and passive,” he says. “The virus isn’t going away. So we have to have a really good tracking system.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation found the claim a predictive approach that is rumored to be part of other Apple Watch improvements expected to arrive in the coming months or years. One report claims that by recognizing the way a wearer’s body changes in the run-up to a panic attack, the Watch can issue a warning before it happens, to help head it off.
The study will ask participants to share data including heart rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen saturation. Not every wearable can measure all of these – Apple has never implemented blood oxygen saturation monitoring, and will likely need a hardware upgrade to do so.
Apple was also not involved in participating in or funding the study, which raises doubts concerning the circulating claims.
Once collected, the data will be used to create algorithms designed to spot physiological changes that happen to the wearer and indicate sickness is on the way. These changes involve a higher resting heart rate, for instance. The app can then warn the wearer with an alert that they may be getting ill.
Why this is so important with COVID-19 is that if someone self-isolates sooner than they otherwise would have, the prospect of spreading the virus to someone else is reduced.
