Wearable COVID Detector

Yale School of Public Health researchers have developed a wearable COVID detector. It is called “The Fresh Air Clip” and it can help detect if a person has been exposed to COVID. The developers had their journal article summarising their research released on January 11th, 2022, in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The Fresh Air Clip is worn on your shirt and is about 1 inch in diameter.

COVID is mostly transmitted by inhalation of the virus droplets that people who are infected spread by breathing, coughing, speaking, or sneezing. This is one of the reasons why COVID is so contagious. The COVID virus droplets are constantly being dispelled into the air.

The Fresh Air Clip works by collecting samples of air around you on a film that is located inside the clip. The device does not require a battery. The film has a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface which captures the virus droplets on it to test for exposure.

First, the researchers tested the Fresh Air Clip in the lab with an aerosol spray with a surrogate virus similar to COVID in it. After that test was successful, the researchers gave sixty-two volunteers their own Fresh Air Clip to wear for five days. They found that five out of the sixty-two volunteer’s clips had detected the COVID virus. Four of those volunteers worked in a restaurant and the fifth positive clip was worn by a homeless shelter worker. Two of the restaurant workers clips had the highest viral loads detected. Results of the research indicates that the Fresh Air Clip could serve as a useful tool for identifying exposure to COVID and to identify high risk indoor areas.

Krystal Godri Pollitt who is the creator of the Fresh Air Clips said “With this clip we can detect low levels of virus that are well below the estimated SARS-CoV-2 infectious dose…The Fresh Air clip serves to identify exposure events early, alerting people to get tested or quarantine. The clip is intended to help prevent viral spread, which can occur when people do not have this kind of early detection of exposure.”

The Fresh Air Clip is not yet readily available but research is being continued. Godri Pollitt is hopeful that the clips will eventually be available to the public. “The Fresh Air Clips are easy-to-use, non-invasive, and low-cost…These features make it easier to scale-up this kind of exposure monitoring for COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses so that the clips can be made available across larger groups of workers in high-risk jobs, such as restaurant servers, health care workers, and teachers.” says Godri Politt.

References

Poitras, C. (2022, January 18). Wearable Air Sampler detects personal exposure to SARS-COV-2. Yale School of Public Health. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/wearable-air-sampler-detects-personal-exposure-to-sars-cov-2/

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