People with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reported a range of symptoms; many don’t exhibit fevers at all. You’ve run out of free articles. During the month of April, transmission was atypically low, corresponding with many states’ social-distancing policies. It then provides guidance with prompts like “Should you be concerned?” and “What to do next.”. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. This tool could help. An April article in Slate cited a similar complaint from a Kinsa user who had “‘no idea’ how else her family’s data was being used.”. Kinsa, a smart thermometer company, offers a side door to tracking the virus—or at least symptoms related to it. These are the daily deaths reported in New York in March and early April. “But a week or so later, we saw cases rise.”. And you'll never see this message again. It may seem like a straightforward question, but it’s hard to work out, because given the serious dearth of COVID-19 testing, data sets that rely on deaths or confirmed cases are incomplete—they leave out asymptomatic carriers and people who experience mild symptoms but aren’t eligible for testing. But in a small-enough company, one could imagine employers reverse engineering that information based on who calls out sick. *Survey conducted by Kinsa across 1,018 schools. (A blog post Kinsa recently released on their demographics shows that people 35–44 are overrepresented among Kinsa users as compared with the general population, while people 65 and over are underrepresented.) The thermometers take your temperature and then let you upload the reading to an app. Here is that same data on deaths and infections in every state, with many infection peaks happening 18 days before peaks in deaths. And while we’re all very focused on coronavirus at the moment, there are still plenty of other reasons people might develop a fever, like the flu. It said it was seeing “both increasing atypical Rt and increasing fever counts” in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, suggesting a forthcoming rise in confirmed cases. Add to Cart. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. That’s a business model that Kinsa is considering, though Mr. Singh stressed all data would be aggregate and would not allow employers to single out employees. It is a commonly used metric to understand whether a virus is growing or under control. “Kinsa was one of the first to have something that remotely approached a leading indicator. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2016. If we could detect irregular virus transmission at the earliest onset of symptoms, public health departments could act fast to encourage people to isolate or advise nonessential businesses to shut back down. Products are not redeemable for cash or transferable. This thermometer has a bluetooth connection to synchronize the data with our phone through the My App. When the dates are shifted, the tight overlap between illnesses and deaths becomes even clearer. With no coronavirus cure or vaccine, early detection of outbreaks is crucial. But Ms. Farr wasn’t so sure. But it’s something.”. You can cancel anytime. Based on this data, it announced Wednesday that it has seen a decreasing trend in atypical flulike temperatures across the country. As the pandemic rages on, it’s worth taking a step back and asking what data users are giving up in the name of COVID, and whether surveillance is worth it. kinsa - Kinsa Inc. is a health technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. That lag between first symptoms and a health care provider visit can make tracing the virus and modeling trends difficult — it’s reactive, not proactive. Image via Kinsa. As of Monday morning, Nehru said, Kinsa data showed that, across the country, fever incidence is lower than expected for this time of year, about 1.5 to 2 percent of the population compared to 3 percent in a typical year, a signal that social distancing is working. All contents © 2021 The Slate Group LLC. Kinsa smart thermometer uses app to note symptoms, curb disease ... Kinsa’s approach has the advantage of not working in a vacuum, Singh said. I put the question of using Kinsa thermometers for outbreak surveillance to Cindy Farr, the incident commander for the Missoula City-County Health Department’s Covid-19 response where I live in Montana. Tap SETUP KINSA; If you don’t see this button, tap ⚙️ Settings > ⨁ Add New Thermometer; Push the button on the thermometer. The chart below shows atypical illnesses compared with reported deaths in each state. 1.0 out of 5 stars Item in picture is not what arrives. That said, he thought Kinsa’s onboarding process for the app didn’t do a great job at explaining how his information would be used. But even in a crisis, privacy matters, and sharing personal data—even in aggregate—should merit close scrutiny. Kinsa, a smart thermometer company, offers a side door to tracking the virus—or at least symptoms related to it. If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker. Kinsa QuickCare thermometer can be used without the Kinsa smartphone app but the app is required for the initial set up and for smart features Pediatrician-recommended and FDA-cleared for adults, kids, toddlers & babies (even newborns!) The company started in 2012 and the thermometer got F.D.A. All rights reserved. The company manufactures smart thermometers, currently producing a smart stick thermometer, smart ear thermometer and a Sesame Street branded smart ear thermometer. Same with moving gatherings outdoors. Kinsa smart thermometers are being used to identify atypical-fever trends that are likely to indicate Covid-19 outbreaks. A smart health tool for your iOS or Android Device. Clean DAILY with alcohol and a Q-Tip and dry with a new Q-Tip. The data shows some interesting correlations over the past months of the pandemic, including atypical spikes in early March in places like New York City (at a time when people were still going to restaurants and bars). 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