A collaboration of scientists has led to a COVID-19 Symptom Tracker app aimed at rapid information collection in response to the ongoing pandemic. The app will be the signal for COVID-19 hotspots and new symptoms to look out for.
"The app collects daily information from individuals in the community about whether they feel well, and if not, their specific symptoms and if they have been tested for COVID-19," said senior author Andrew T. Chan, MD, PhD, Chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Director of Cancer Epidemiology at the MGH Cancer Center.
Findings were published in the journal Science.
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"This work has led to the development of accurate models of COVID-19 infection rates in the absence of sufficient population testing," said Dr. Chan. "For example, the U.K. government has acted upon these estimates by providing advanced notice to local health authorities about when to expect a surge of cases. Our app is designed to be entirely voluntary so that they can share information about how they are feeling in a way that safeguards their privacy."
Source: Science Daily