Doctors to try smart ring to see if it can help detect COVID-19 early

Medical workers are finding ways to track Coronavirus in early stages.

Emergency medical workers at two hospitals in San Francisco will begin wearing smart rings that can detect their body temperature and other metrics in an attempt to detect coronavirus infections early, according to a news report.

Staff at UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital will begin wearing smart rings made by wearable tech startup Oura, which makes a ring that can monitor a wearer's sleep, heart rate, temperature, and steps. 

The goal of the program is two-fold, according to the report. In the short term, UCSF's Dr. Ashley Mason, who is spearheading the project, hopes the rings could help emergency room professionals tell when they're getting sick so that they can stay home and avoid spreading their illness, whether it's the coronavirus disease or not.

But over the long term, Mason wants to use the rings to gather data from both healthy people and those infected with the coronavirus to learn about early warning signs that may precede symptoms, the report says. 

Oura's smart ring is marketed as a health and fitness device for monitoring sleep, activity, and a category the company calls "readiness," which includes metrics like resting heart rate, body temperature deviation, and heart rate variability among others