BioButton: A sticker to detect covid-19 symptoms
Reopening society could get some help from a disposable wireless device that promises to turn vital signs into a warning about covid-19 symptoms.
The BioButton, about the size of a silver dollar, sticks to your upper chest with a medical adhesive and uses sensors to continuously track your skin temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate, activity level and sleep. Maker BioIntelliSense says after a few days, a BioButton can collect enough data to help identify if you have symptoms of a possible
coronavirusinfection — even if you don’t notice you’re sick.
At CES, BioIntelliSense announced a collaboration with the
American College of Cardiology, which will offer the BioButton as a covid screening option to its members attending its annual meeting in May. UCHealth in Colorado is also using BioButtons to
monitor health-care workers who receive coronavirus vaccines. BioIntelliSense hopes the tech could also be used to make vacation destinations, cruises and even workplaces safer.
There have also been efforts
to detect coronavirus symptoms with consumer wearables like Fitbits and Oura Rings, but they’re still being studied by researchers. The BioButton has already been
cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to collect vital signs at home, and BioIntelliSense says an earlier version of its device using the same sensors proved to be as accurate as devices used in hospitals at measuring heart rate, temperature and respiration. (Geoffrey has been wearing one for a few days, finding it reports typical vital signs and its sticker holds up through exercise and showers.)
Detecting the coronavirus in all that body data is another challenge. BioIntelliSense says its software is good enough to spot symptoms of an infection after a few days — but can’t yet tell the difference between covid-19 and the flu. (The company is currently conducting a nationwide clinical test funded by the Defense Department and led by Philips to validate how long it takes to detect covid.) Constant monitoring of vital signs is certainly much more useful than screening efforts like spot temperature checks, which are based on just one point in time.
If the idea catches on, there will be ethical and privacy concerns to work out. BioIntelliSense CEO James Mault says he thinks it’s important for use of devices like the BioButton to remain entirely optional, and for consumers to maintain control over their own vital-sign data.
That might get annoying. Katy Purry’s fast ass has a lil boyfriend from the streets that comes to the door window at 1-2am and they just stare at each other for about an hour and then he leaves 
Might have to cope that B. Hopefully it got a baller design
What on Earth....?
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