The Pentagon experimented with an algorithm that uses data gathered by fitness trackers to predict whether a user has COVID-19 two days before they show symptoms, Politico reported Feb. 23.
The Pentagon's Department of Innovation Unit tracked 11,500 users wearing the Garmin Fēnix 6 watch and an Oura ring, from June 2020 to September 2021. The watch tracked the user's respiration rate, oxygen saturation and heart rate, while the ring collected heart rate and skin temperature.
The researchers used the data from those devices to calculate a score for the user. Scores ranged from 1 through 100 — the higher the number, the higher the likelihood of infection.
The scores were used to alert users, who were otherwise presymptomatic, to get tested.
Out of the users who wore the trackers, 491 tested positive for COVID-19, with 73 percent of those cases detected by the algorithm. The algorithm also identified COVID-19 positive individuals 2.3 days before diagnostic testing.