Perspective: Wearable Internet of Medical Things for Remote Tracking of Symptoms, Prediction of Health Anomalies, Implementation of Preventative Measures, and Control of Virus Spread During the Era of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highly impacted the communities globally by reprioritizing the means through which various societal sectors operate. Among these sectors, healthcare providers and medical workers have been impacted prominently due to the massive increase in demand for medical services under unprecedented circumstances. Hence, any tool that can help the compliance with social guidelines for COVID-19 spread prevention will have a positive impact on managing and controlling the virus outbreak and reducing the excessive burden on the healthcare system. This perspective article disseminates the perspectives of the authors regarding the use of novel biosensors and intelligent algorithms embodied in wearable IoMT frameworks for tackling this issue. We discuss how with the use of smart IoMT wearables certain biomarkers can be tracked for detection of COVID-19 in exposed individuals. We enumerate several machine learning algorithms which can be used to process a wide range of collected biomarkers for detecting (a) multiple symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection and (b) the dynamical likelihood of contracting the virus through interpersonal interaction. Eventually, we enunciate how a systematic use of smart wearable IoMT devices in various social sectors can intelligently help controlling the spread of COVID-19 in communities as they enter the reopening phase. We explain how this framework can benefit individuals and their medical correspondents by introducing Systems for Symptom Decoding (SSD), and how the use of this technology can be generalized on a societal level for the control of spread by introducing Systems for Spread Tracing (SST).

Sound Feedback for Social Distance: The Case for Public Interventions During a Pandemic

“…With respect to interpersonal distance, initiatives in response to pandemic conditions rely upon a level of altruistic responsibility, by which the public are inclined to follow a protective etiquette [44]. When taking a look at the technologies that have become ubiquitous in response to the pandemic: Contact Tracing Applications, Skin Temperature Scanners, and contactless patient monitoring, for example [45,46], we note that the user is constrained to one interpretation of the data made available to them. When contrasted with alternative interventions that explore emotional bonding in urban environments, e.g.…”

Sound Feedback for Social Distance: The Case for Public Interventions during a Pandemic

“…With respect to interpersonal distance, initiatives in response to pandemic conditions rely upon a level of altruistic responsibility, by which the public are inclined to follow a protective etiquette [44]. When taking a look at the technologies that have become ubiquitous in response to the pandemic: Contact Tracing Applications, Skin Temperature Scanners, and contactless patient monitoring, for example [45,46], we note that the user is constrained to one interpretation of the data made available to them. When contrasted with alternative interventions that explore emotional bonding in urban environments, e.g., [47,48], we begin to question the limitations of the prior, and subsequently, practices that exist at the intersection of social affirmation and long-lasting public health.…”

A Biosensor Platform for Point-of-Care SARS-CoV-2 Screening

“…The possibility of electronic processing of screening test results means that the spread of the virus in space and time can be controlled. With the use of electronic methods and the Internet of Things (IoT), effective control of the distribution of positive test cases in specific geographical areas, as well as in specific time intervals can be accomplished [ 14 , 15 ]. In fact, by storing the screening results data on a platform, statistical processing can be performed, which may give indications for the improvement of the diagnostic tools themselves, but also for the improvement of the strategy for dealing with the pandemic [ 16 ].…”