The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) partnered with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to use a commercial, wearable infection warning device for COVID-19 spread reduction, DoD News reported Tuesday.
The device, named Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure (RATE), is designed to alert about the virus' presence in the wearer before he or she exhibits symptoms. RATE measures relevant biomarkers and produces data that undergoes processing in the cloud.
Researchers used RATE to find that infectious agents can result in subtle physiological changes within people prior to the surfacing of symptoms.
Ed Argenta, science and technology manager at DTRA, said the early detection of these changes significantly helps contain virus spreads. The Department of Defense plans to widely distribute RATE devices in weeks to come.
