Key points from article :
Kinsa Health uses smart thermometers (ST) to predict the spread of COVID-19 in US.
Tracks fever real time using the internet, and more than a million sold or given away.
ST data “acts as an early warning system for illness spreading” with millions of data points.
This allows Kinsa to produce daily maps showing which counties have spiking fevers.
Thus "it tells you where to swoop in with your test kits”.
Data shown unusual rise in South Florida and within days it had indeed become an epicenter.
Maps and data to be directly posted without peer-review.
This “could speed up public health the way Twitter sped up the news cycle".
Demand skyrocketed since the pandemic began, selling 10,000 a day.
ST connect to a cellphone app that instantly transmits their readings to the company.
"Our results suggest that we can now accurately forecast flu out 12 weeks or more.”
