Coronavirus
Technology Solutions
physIQ and Purdue University Launch Study to
Develop Algorithms for Detecting Earliest Signs
of COVID-19 From Biometric Smartwatch Data
BTL Providing Face Masks and Ventilators as of
September 2020
UK has Areas of Increased Cases
Germany Experiences Highest Daily Case Numbers
Since April
Netherlands Cases Spiking
France has Rising Cases in Paris as Well as
Marseille
Envirco HEPA Filter System for Isolation Rooms
Envirco Fan Filter Units have Wide Applicability
in COVID Battle
A Number of Republican Officials have Tested
Positive for COVID and More are Anticipated
__________________________________________________________________________
physIQ and Purdue University Launch Study to
Develop Algorithms for Detecting Earliest Signs
of COVID-19 From Biometric Smartwatch Data
Purdue University researchers have begun a study
that would help determine if continuously
collected biometric smartwatch data could be
used to reliably and accurately detect these
signs early, which could indicate that a
potentially asymptomatic user should get tested
for COVID-19.
Data from the study will inform new algorithms
to be developed by physIQ,
a Purdue-affiliated digital health technology
company based in Chicago. The company has
support from the Purdue Research
Foundation’s Foundry Investment Fund.
Smartwatches on the market already collect a
wide range of physiologic data, but
incorporating metrics such as heart rate, heart
rate variability and respiration rate that may
help detect COVID-19 at the earliest stages will
take more research, studies by companies such
as Fitbit have stated.
Although smartwatch-like devices are not
currently substitutes for gold-standard
diagnostic tests used in clinics and
hospitals, some wearable devices are starting to
serve as tools for helping a clinician make a
diagnosis.
“There won’t be a point where a smartwatch can
tell you that you’re COVID-19 positive, but it
could potentially say, ‘Within the next couple
of days, you might be getting sick and should go
get tested,’” said Craig Goergen, Purdue’s
Leslie A. Geddes Associate Professor
of Biomedical Engineering.
Previous studies have shown that viral
infections increase resting heart and
respiration rates and decrease heart rate
variability before a patient develops a fever,
Goergen said. It’s not yet known if these
indicators, particularly respiration rate, can
be measured reliably enough at the wrist to
imply infection.
“An increased heart rate or respiration rate
means something different if it increased while
you were resting as opposed to running, but most
smartwatches have difficulty distinguishing
that. So it is really recovery and resting
periods that we are focused on with this
approach,” Goergen said.
In a study of up to 100 participants, Goergen’s
team will first determine whether wearing a
smartwatch to collect these indicators is
practical, unobtrusive and user-friendly. The
researchers are recruiting Purdue students,
staff and faculty as study participants.
Each participant will be mailed a Samsung Galaxy
smartwatch with a physIQ app loaded to collect
data, FDA-cleared adhesive chest-based
biosensors that collect a single-lead
electrocardiogram signal, and a Samsung Galaxy
smartphone to use for five days of continuous
monitoring while Goergen’s lab analyzes data
from the app remotely using physIQ’s cloud-based
accelerateIQ platform.
Data from the chest patches will be processed by
physIQ’s FDA-cleared artificial
intelligence-based algorithms for deriving heart
rate, respiration rate and heart rate
variability. These data will serve as “gold
standard” references to compare with data from
the smartwatches.
Researchers led by Fengqing Maggie Zhu, a Purdue
assistant professor of electrical and computer
engineering, will analyze data collected by
Goergen’s lab and determine how much of it could
be used to train algorithms for developing
smartwatch software aimed at detecting these
metrics better. Watchband tightness, for
example, could affect data availability and
quality.
“We recognize this work as the first step in
enabling advanced personalized analytics for
continuous monitoring of individuals using
smartwatch data,” said Stephan Wegerich,
physIQ’s chief science officer. “This could lead
to a solution that is applicable to many
physiological monitoring applications in both
clinical trial markets as well as in healthcare
delivery.”
The end goal is that the software, which a
smartwatch would access from a cloud-based
server, would show subclinical changes in
metrics unique to the individual by “learning”
from large amounts of data continuously
collected while wearing the watch.
The researchers plan to eventually expand the
study to include individuals at high risk of
contracting COVID-19.
The work is funded by a faculty innovations
grant from Protect Purdue, the university’s
initiative to keep the campus and surrounding
community safe from COVID-19.
PhysIQ is a leading digital medicine company
dedicated to generating unprecedented health
insight using continuous wearable biosensor data
and advanced analytics. Its enterprise-ready
cloud platform continuously collects and
processes data from any wearable biosensor using
a deep portfolio of FDA-cleared analytics. The
company has published one of the most rigorous
clinical studies to date in digital medicine and
are pioneers in developing, validating, and
achieving regulatory approval of Artificial
Intelligence-based analytics. With applications
in both healthcare and clinical trial support,
physIQ is transforming continuous physiological
data into insight for health systems, payers,
and pharmaceutical companies.
BTL is revamping several major manufacturing
facilities to be able to provide face masks and
ventilators to the medical community. As a
health company, they believe it is their
obligation to protect and serve the doctors and
medical workers that have continued to support
the BTL community, and beyond.
A national survey of more than 29,000 people
across 700 villages and wards found that about
one in 15 people above the age of 10 had
antibodies against the coronavirus, according to
the Indian Council of Medical Research. The
survey was conducted from mid-August to
mid-September.
Antibody tests, also known as serology tests,
check for proteins called antibodies in the
immune system, which indicate if someone has
been exposed to the virus.
Of the country's 1.3 billion citizens, more than
966 million are aged 10 or above, according to
the government's most recent census in 2011. If
one in 15 people of this group have been
infected with Covid-19, that's a total of 63.78
million people.
As of Wednesday, India has reported more than
6.1 million cases and 96,000 deaths, according
to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The survey suggests that for everyone infection
officially reported, there are actually 26 to 32
people infected who slip through the cracks,
said Dr. Balram Bhargava, director of the
medical council, at a news conference on
Tuesday.
This falls in line with what many experts have
warned for months -- that India's coronavirus
crisis may be much more dire than official
figures suggest.
There are numerous reasons for this: People
simply aren't getting tested enough. There are
sometimes errors in reporting and registering
cases. Changing government strategies can muddle
the numbers and paint a misleading picture of
the situation.
The government began rolling back restrictions
in May after a months-long lockdown, with
ministers turning their attention to reopening
the economy and public services. But experts,
including Bhargava, warn that it's too soon to
relax.
Since a large proportion of the population is
still susceptible, prevention fatigue has to be
avoided," Bhargava said, adding that the risk of
infection was highest in urban slums where
millions live in crowded conditions, often with
limited sanitation or running water.
Slum residents had a seroprevalence -- meaning
they carried antibodies -- of 15.6%, almost
double the 8.2% detected in residents of
non-slum urban areas. The figure drops in rural
areas to 4.4%, according to the survey.
The survey shows how important it is for the
Indian public to continue taking coronavirus
precautions like social distancing and personal
hygiene, said Bhargava on Tuesday -- especially
during Diwali, the festival of lights. The
festival, which this year falls on November 14,
is one of India's biggest annual holidays.
"In light of the upcoming festivities, in light
of the winter season and mass gathering,
containment strategies must be implemented by
the states and the use of masks cannot be
underlined more than after this seroprevalence
survey," he warned. "That is very, very
essential."
Ramanan Laxminarayan, a senior research scholar
at Princeton University, predicted that the
country may be undercounting infections by a
factor of 50 to 100 -- meaning the "true" number
could be upwards of 100 million.
One simple reason behind the discrepancy is
insufficient testing. India has stepped up its
testing, almost doubling the amount of tests
conducted during the month of August -- but it
still lags far behind other major countries.
Only about 82 of every 100,000 people in India
are being tested per day, according to Johns
Hopkins University -- compared to about 284 in
the US and 329 in the United Kingdom.
"All the other countries test two times, three
times, 10 times what India is testing,"
community medicine specialist Dr. Hemant Shewade
told CNN earlier this month.
Meanwhile, India's mortality rate of 1.6% looks
much lower than other countries -- compared to
2.9% in the US, 9.5% in the UK, and 11.5% in
Italy, according to Johns Hopkins
University. But coronavirus deaths, too, are
likely being undercounted.
Even when India isn't facing a pandemic, its
underfunded public health infrastructure means
that only 86% of deaths nationwide are even
registered in government systems. And only 22%
of all registered deaths get an official cause
of death, certified by a doctor, Shewade said.
And even if a coronavirus patient tested
positive before dying, they might not be counted
as a Covid-19 death if they had other
preexisting conditions, such as diabetes or
cancer, which could be recorded as the cause of
death instead, he added.
Since 31 December 2019 and as of 02 October
2020, 34,350,717 cases of
COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case
definitions and testing strategies in the
affected countries) have been reported,
including 1,023,876 deaths.
Africa: 1,489,809
cases; the five countries reporting most cases
are South Africa (676,084), Morocco (126,044),
Egypt (103,317), Ethiopia (76,098) and Nigeria
(59,001).
Asia:
10,702,442 cases; the five countries reporting
most cases are India (6,394,068), Iran
(461,044), Iraq (367,474), Bangladesh (364,987)
and Saudi Arabia (335,097).
America:
16,915,337 cases; the five countries reporting
most cases are United States (7,277,814), Brazil
(4,847,092), Colombia (835,339), Peru (818,297)
and Argentina (764,989).
Europe:
5,208,834 cases; the five countries reporting
most cases are Russia (1,185,231), Spain
(778,607), France (577,505), United Kingdom
(460,178) and Italy (317,409).
Oceania:
33,599 cases; the five countries reporting most
cases are Australia (27,096), Guam (2,550),
French Polynesia (1,790), New Zealand (1492) and
Papua New Guinea (539).
Other:
696 cases have been reported from an
international conveyance in Japan.
Deaths have been
reported from:
Africa: 36,086
deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths
are South Africa (16,866), Egypt (5,946),
Morocco (2,229), Algeria (1,741) and Ethiopia
(1,205).
Asia:
195,327 deaths; the five countries reporting
most deaths are India (99,773), Iran (26,380),
Indonesia (10,856), Iraq (9,231) and Turkey
(8,262).
America:
566,374 deaths; the five countries reporting
most deaths are United States (207,808), Brazil
(144,680), Mexico (78,078), Peru (32,535) and
Colombia (26,196).
Europe:
225,102 deaths; the five countries reporting
most deaths are United Kingdom (42,202), Italy
(35,918), France (32,019), Spain (31,973) and
Russia (20,891).
Oceania:
980 deaths; the five countries reporting most
deaths are Australia (888), Guam (49), New
Zealand (25), French Polynesia (7) and Papua New
Guinea (7).
Other:
7 deaths have been reported from an
international conveyance in Japan
Geographic distribution of 14-day cumulative
number of reported COVID-19 cases per 100 000
population, worldwide, as of 2 October 2020
Cases Surging in Spain
Madrid is going back under city-wide lockdown
measures after a surge in coronavirus cases in
the Spanish capital, in a dramatic move that
illustrates the growing intensity of Europe's
battle against a snowballing surge of infection.
People will not be able to leave or enter their
area except for work, education or health
reasons, gatherings will be limited to six
people and stores, bars and restaurants will
have to reduce capacity by 50% and close by 10
p.m.
"Madrid is special because the health of Madrid
is the health of Spain," Spanish Health Minister
Salvador Illa told a news conference Wednesday
as he announced the measures, calling the
situation "complex" and "worrying."
The restrictions will apply to municipalities
with more than 500 cases per 100,000 people in
the past 14 days, where the number of positive
cases surpasses 10% of all diagnostic tests or
where Covid-19 patients make up more than 35% of
occupied ICU beds.
Madrid reported 1,586 new infections Wednesday,
or 40% of the national increase. Its regional
government opposed the measures, arguing that
the outbreak was under control.
UK has Areas of Increased Cases
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday
announced a ban on households mixing indoors for
Liverpool and several other cities in northern
England following a rapid rise in cases. The new
measures also recommend against non-essential
travel, amateur sports watching and care home
visits except in exceptional circumstances.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that
this was a "critical moment," adding that if the
evidence requires it, he will not hesitate to
take "more costly" measures.
There were 7,108 new cases in the UK on
Wednesday after a record rise on Tuesday.
Hancock warned that the R (reproduction) number
remains above 1, meaning the virus "continues to
spread," but he told Parliament that there were
"early signs" increased measures were having a
positive impact.
An interim report from the UK's largest
community Covid-19 testing program released
Thursday estimated that more than 1 in 200
people in England have coronavirus, or 0.55% of
the population, compared to 0.13% active case in
the previous round of testing. Over 65s saw a
seven-fold increase, the biggest rise in cases,
while young people continued to have the highest
rates of infection, with 1 in 100 estimated to
have coronavirus.
"While our latest findings show some early
evidence that the growth of new cases may have
slowed, suggesting efforts to control the
infection are working, the prevalence of
infection is the highest that we have recorded
to date," said Professor Paul Elliott, director
of the REACT (REal-time Assessment of Community
Transmission) program at Imperial College
London.
Prevalence increased in all parts of the
country, with the northwest remaining the
highest at 0.86%, and cases increased five-fold
in London, from 0.10% to 0.49%. Black and Asian
people were again found to be twice as likely to
be infected compared to White people.
Chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance warned
Wednesday there was "fast growth" in cases in
parts of the country, adding: "Things are
definitely headed in the wrong direction." Chief
medical officer Chris Whitty said there was "a
significant uptick in the number of people who
are entering intensive care."
Germany Experiences Highest Daily Case Numbers
Since April
Germany's coronavirus cases rose by 2,503 to
291,722 Thursday, its second highest increase
since April. German Chancellor Angela
Merkel on Wednesday appealed to citizens to
"obey the rules" going into winter. "I am sure:
life as we know it will return, but now we have
to be reasonable."
Merkel on Tuesday announced an array of new
measures aimed at stopping a recent spike in
infections in the country. She said that
gatherings in public venues would be limited to
no more than 50 people in areas with a large
number of cases.
We know that a more difficult time is coming,
fall and winter," Merkel told a news conference
as she explained the restrictions, which also
include fines of at least 50 euros for patrons
in bars and restaurants who provide false
contact data to authorities for tracing.
Merkel also issued warned that if action wasn't
taken, Germany could see up to 19,200 new cases
per day in the winter months. "This underscores
the urgency to act," Merkel said.
Netherlands Cases Spiking
Cases are also spiking in the Netherlands, where
3,025 infections were reported Tuesday. On
Wednesday, the government was into a U-turn on
masks -- they must now be worn in all public
indoor areas such as shops, museums and petrol
stations. The government had previously
said masks were not necessary if other measures
were followed.
The Dutch government announced Tuesday that it
was introducing stricter measures after the
daily rate of reported infections doubled the
levels seen during its first wave in the spring.
These include working from home where possible
and pubs and restaurants closing at 10 p.m.
France has Rising Cases in Paris as Well as
Marseille
The head of the Paris regional health authority
said Wednesday that the data from hospitals was
not looking positive.
Aurelien Rousseau told France Inter radio that
34% of intensive care beds were occupied by
Covid-19 patients in the region. He added the
incidence rate is very high for people between
20 and 30, with 450 cases per 100,000 people.
Rousseau said the incidence rate for people over
65 was more than 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.
With worsening numbers the government may decide
that Paris, like Marseille and the overseas
department of Guadeloupe, classifies as a zone
of "maximum alert," meaning bars and restaurants
would be forced to close.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and
Control said that high case levels (at least 60
per 100,000) or a sustained increase in the
14-day Covid-19 case notification rates had been
observed in 20 countries in the EU and UK,
calling the situation in many countries
"concerning."
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A Number of Republican Officials have Tested
Positive for COVID and More are Anticipated
The web of those exposed by President Donald
Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis reads like a who’s
who of his peripatetic campaign: his campaign
manager, the chair of the Republican National
Committee, the leader of the House GOP’s
campaign arm, and several high-profile members
of Congress.
Now, those officials—not to mention countless
supporters of the president—have either
contracted COVID-19 or are at high risk for it
after a week in which an infected Trump has
crisscrossed the country. It also means a wide
swath of the GOP’s formal campaign apparatus
could be sidelined a month before a pivotal
election in which the party is losing ground in
its efforts to hold onto the White House, keep
the Senate, and recapture the House.
Last Friday, the president had a packed day on
the campaign trail, with events in Miami,
Atlanta, and Virginia, with a stop in between at
his hotel in Washington for a “roundtable with
supporters.” Somewhere along the way, Ronna
McDaniel, the RNC chair, was with Trump. It was
reported on Friday morning that she had
contracted the coronavirus. An RNC spokesperson
said that McDaniel had tested for COVID-19 after
a member of her family had contracted the virus,
and said she’d been at home in Michigan since
Saturday.
Over the weekend, Trump traveled to Pennsylvania
for a rally, and held a White House event with
many notable GOP officials to honor Judge Amy
Coney Barrett, his nominee to the U.S. Supreme
Court. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was in attendance;
video taken of the event by a CNN reporter shows
him hugging and greeting other attendees without
wearing a mask. He announced Friday that he’d
tested positive for COVID-19.
Then, on Tuesday, much of the Trump campaign
team, along with a top ally, Rep. Jim Jordan
(R-OH), traveled on Air Force One to Cleveland,
where they shared a debate hall with Democratic
nominee former Vice President Joe Biden and his
staff, supporters, and family.
The day after, Trump traveled to Minnesota for a
campaign rally, bringing along his top campaign
aides as well as Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), chairman
of the National Republican Congressional
Committee, on Air Force One. The president held
a private fundraiser beforehand that attracted
GOP Reps. Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber of
Minnesota, as well as Jason Lewis, the GOP
nominee in the U.S. Senate race, and a number of
key donors and GOP officials in the state.
Later, an evening rally outside the Twin Cities
featured a speech from Trump that was half his
normal length; aides reportedly sensed he was
tired.
On Wednesday, Lara Trump, the president’s
daughter-in-law, posted photos to social media
showing herself mingling with various Trumpworld
figures at a campaign event at Trump’s hotel in
Washington; she and others were not wearing
masks. The day before, she had traveled to the
debate in Cleveland on Air Force One with her
family.
Many of those who work for Trump or accompanied
him during his aggressive week of campaign
travel announced on Friday their plans to get
tested or that they’d already received a
negative result.
But the unprecedented situation has complicated
life for a much broader group of
people—including Barrett, who Senate Republicans
are aiming to confirm to the court within a
historically tight timeframe. After she and her
family attended the Rose Garden event on
Saturday, Barrett met with dozens of U.S.
senators on Capitol Hill for closed-door
meetings—including with Lee. Photos of their
meeting show Lee and Barrett posing with and
without face masks.
On Friday, White House spokesperson Judd Deere
said that Barrett had tested negative for
COVID-19, but said she was following Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for
social distancing and mask-wearing for those
exposed. He did not mention if Barrett would be
quarantining for 14 days from exposure to
someone with the virus—a practice that is, in
fact, CDC guidance. Barrett had been scheduled
to meet with more lawmakers in the coming days;
it’s unclear if those plans will continue,
though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
said on Friday morning that he did not see the
brewing COVID outbreak as an obstacle to the
speedy confirmation process they’ve outlined for
Barrett.
Beyond Barrett and the Senate, the House of
Representatives has things to worry about, too.
After traveling with Trump this week, several
Republican lawmakers returned to Washington for
multiple votes on the floor of the House. Emmer
said on Friday morning that he was not
exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms but had gotten a
test that morning. Jordan, meanwhile, announced
that he’d gotten a test, but planned to work in
isolation in his Capitol Hill office until he
received a result. And Hagedorn’s office said he
planned to continue his official duties—“such as
voting on the House floor”—until he gets a
negative COVID-19 result back.
“I think people are a bit rattled,” a House GOP
aide told The Daily Beast on Friday morning, as
lawmakers headed again to the floor for votes.
“Things have been a little bit more back to
normal the last two weeks, so I think this snaps
everyone out of that complacency.”
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