covid-19 Archives - SuperWatches

Smartwatches could be proving valuable in the fight against COVID-19. Some countries including the States and the UK are experiencing a shortage in diagnostic testing. Wearable fitness and health trackers are providing a surprise solution to early detection of COVID-19 symptoms before the virus itself becomes present.

At the end of June, the Senior Director of Research at Global Data said that wearable health and fitness trackers with heart rate monitors and other sensors might be a game-changer in detecting COVID-19.

Given that the virus is so highly-contagious, being able to detect it early is critical in reducing the rate of infection. Especially so as economies around the world are being opened up again.

Issues

The problem people are having is severe delays in getting their test results back. This makes it all the more critical that we pick up on the earlier signs. Data collected by our wearable fitness and health trackers are showing promise for detecting the virus.

Your fitness tracker or smartwatch might have the capability to monitor your health stats like your heart rate, sleep quality, blood oxygen levels, temperature and more.

Currently, there are ongoing studies that are harnessing the data from wearable devices, including a huge selection of Fitbit users, to detect early signs of COVID-19. Results from these studies are looking promising, too. There’s a pressure on companies to address pricing as the benefits of their devices are so clear, but not necessarily accessible to all.

Detecting covid symptoms

Fitness trackers and smartwatches with health sensors are an existing tool for getting an idea of your general health. Studies have been ongoing since before the current pandemic. Fitbit user data has been used to identify influenza in the past. Looking at symptoms like elevated heart rate during daily activities versus rest periods as a sign of infection. The new Apple Watch 6 is a fine example of a smartwatch that cares about your health.

Fitbit fitness trackers

Fitbit devices monitor both your heart rate and sleep quality. An elevated heart rate is a common sign of potential infection. Most Fitbit devices carry a heart rate monitor as standard. As they’re monitoring your heart rate around the clock, even when you sleep, any abnormal changes can be swiftly identified.

Of course, your fitness tracker or smartwatch is not going to send you a notification with an official diagnosis. But what you can use your wearable for is to pick up any sudden changes to your normal functioning. In the case of COVID-19, you’re able to use common sense to decide if these symptoms mean it would be best to isolate.

Body temperature

We know by now that a high temperature and persistent cough are the two most occurring COVID-9 symptoms. This means sales in thermometers has rocketed.

Temperature sensors aren’t yet commonplace in smartwatches and fitness trackers. The newly-released Fitbit Sense is one such device, though. The fact you don’t see temperature sensors often is due to the fact that it is a complicated process to get an accurate reading from your skin. The temperature of your skin varies wildly depending on environmental factors and it’s easier to raise or lower that temperature. Your sweat and stress levels also play an influential role in this. Because of this, the contact the sensor will have with your skin isn’t always optimal for an accurate reading.

Again, a high temperature alone isn’t a diagnosis, but it’s possible to look at a combination of factors that your wearable will monitor for you and you can make a better informed decision based on the data.

Sweat and tears

Ongoing development of sensors in wearable devices is expanding the possibility of using these devices for more diagnostic purposes. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on this development and, safe to say, has also accelerated it.

It’s been suggested that a sweat sensor be incorporated into devices. This would pick up on sweat levels on the skin. This could potentially tell us vast amounts of information about the user’s health. Including, alcohol and glucose content, sodium ion levels and pH.

Did you know your tears are useful indicators, too? Technology is so advanced that there’s research into smart contact lenses.

Virus detection

As we’ve said, no smartwatch or fitness tracker can tell you if you’ve got COVID-19. To do this, they’d need to detect a specific kind of virus-specific acid known as RNA.

Detecting RNA involves many complicated steps in the process. There have been developments in reducing the amount of equipment needed, but the road to having this technology in something you wear on your wrist is a long way off.

So, whilst the tech isn’t in a wearable format yet, the direction is clear. Virus-detecting wearables will eventually become a reality. The continuous monitoring of a person’s health will be connected to tech that will indicate if they’ve been in contact with the virus, which enables that person to seek medical treatment and encourage isolation.

Any airborne virus will require some truly sophisticated sensor to collect and analyse air samples. We’re starting to talk about some real space-age sci-fi stuff, now. Whilst the technology does exist to do this, there’s no sign yet of being able to condense it into such a micro format that you’d be able to embed it into a wearable.

Wearable and accessible

It’s a bold claim that your existing smartwatch or fitness tracker could help you to diagnose if you have COVID-19 (or not), but it’s not impossible. Unfortunately, like traditional testing, not everyone has access to a wearable device. They can be expensive and, largely, the market is aimed at English-speaking territories. Vulnerable people such as the elderly may also be resistant to smart tech and being monitored.

Research and development continue. Our wearable technology is becoming more and more focused on our health and fitness. Brands have a duty to make this accessible to as many people as possible because the benefits to society are undeniable.

Maygen

Maygen is a multifaceted writer, proofreader and an experienced smartwatch industry writing and editing professional.

We’re all talking about it. Its effects are being felt now and it will leave a mark for the next 6 – 12 months. Perhaps longer. Coronavirus is affecting every single one of us in some way, far beyond the initial health implications.

When something this big manifests this fast and wide, it begins to impact more than our individual lives; it starts eating away at our economy.

We’re here to talk about smartwatches, so let’s discuss the impact COVID-19 is going to have on the smartwatch industry.

China is a technology manufacturing Mecca; especially for smart technology and other electronics. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the tech market has met difficulties.

The SARs outbreak was just shy of 20 years ago but many remember how this spread in China where many thousands were affected, which lead to a huge impact on the economy. Back then, in 2003, the economic input from China equated to 4% of global GDP. Today, it’s closer to 16%.

The world has become heavily reliant on China for its quick and cheap manufacturing ability. This spreads across multiple industries from seafood to diamonds. More commodities than you’d ever have thought.

This gives you an idea of how influential China is to us all. Since the WHO officially announced the outbreak of Coronavirus in January of this year, companies worldwide who are largely dependent on Chinese imports are experiencing severe challenges and setbacks.

The world of tech

In the tech world, it’s been suggested that the smartwatch market is going to be hit the hardest. An estimated 12m units have been imported from China to the US in this first quarter of 2020 compared to 14.5m in the previous. Smartwatches aren’t the only devices to see this decline, notebooks, games consoles, smartphones and TVs are also seeing a huge drop.

The tech market in America will be the most disturbed. It has (had) an incredible dependency on Chinese manufacturing. Until today, China has been a major goods supplier in the US.

Remember the fairly-recent Huawei blacklisting in the US in the trade war with China? This was the start of tensions between the two countries which caused a cumulative impact of $26b to those business involved. Now the Coronavirus pandemic has been introduced to the equation, things can only get worse.

The effect that Coronavirus is having on technology companies is simple but catastrophic; doors are being forced closed. This includes manufacturing plants as well as shops and offices. The restriction of business travel in and between countries is grinding trade to a halt. Non-essential travel bans mean consumers aren’t able to shop, and online retailers are struggling to courier items effectively. Amazon, the largest online retailer in the world, is struggling to cope with this situation. This gives us a tragic forecast of how smaller smartwatch makers will fall.

Factories shutting down means production delays

As it’s been said, a large number of smartwatch makers are reliant on China for manufacturing. Wuhan is the virus epicentre and simultaneously a hub for technology suppliers.

We’re not seeing any significant progress when it comes to slowing the virus; China has been proven to be supplying the rest of the world with false information at every stage of this pandemic. On the whole, we’re very much in the woods rather than coming out of it.

There is an inevitable negative repercussion on the supply chain. Thanks to Wuhan going into lockdown, this has caused disruptions to transport. Workers can’t get to factories, so those factories can’t function. This is how Chinese technology giants will be brought down. You can pick any smartwatch brand with roots in China and you’ll see their stock prices are currently crashing.

Missed deadlines

Apple is due to release the Series 6 Apple Watch in September of this year. The release of the iPhone 12 was set for March and has been delayed, so we will just have to wait and see what happens in Q4 with regard to the Watch launch. Companies are expected to have backup plans for production to cover missed deadlines, but no one seems to be coming up with a solution. The world will have to wait.

Huawei is the largest tech company in China. It has forecast a 15% decrease in production thanks to Coronavirus’ impact on manufacturing processes and wider uncertainties regarding getting employees back to work.

Wuhan is a major location for the manufacture of critical components for smartwatches. Disruption to the supply of these components will cause a decline in the ability to meet demand from consumers.

In fact, thanks to COVID-19, the export of components for electronics from China to the USA has fallen by over 50%.

What is the longer-term impact?

We’re coming into Q2 of the financial year, which is a key time for all industries, including technology. Tech giants aim to get new products launched in this specific period following a concentration on innovation, design and testing in Q1.

As China supplies so many smartwatch brands with the components they need to manufacture their wearable tech globally, we can expect to see this 50% decrease in exports everywhere, not just in the US.

Brands are now looking to turn to alternative countries for their supplies. This is going to strengthen the market in these other countries if they can meet the vast demand. Analysts say it is far too early to be able to accurately predict how the smartwatch industry will be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, although we can confidently say the repercussions are going to be felt globally.

Will buyer behaviour change?

The short answer is, absolutely, yes.

People are losing their jobs. Some are seeing their annual salary slashed to keep companies afloat. Disposable incomes are being squeezed and smartwatches are not an essential item.

There will be a small proportion of people who are keen to keep an eye on their health in times of lockdown. Calorie and step-counting fitness trackers will no doubt see some spikes in sales, but certainly not enough to keep the market as a whole afloat.

All we can do in this uncertain time is to stay safe, sit back and wait it out.