Continuous Monitoring of COVID-19 Symptomatology for Elderly Patients in Long Term Care Facilities Using Advanced, Soft, and Flexible Sensors Mounted on the Suprasternal Notch

Project Summary: COVID-19 is significantly more lethal in the elderly1 with thegreatest risk in those cared for in long-term care facilities (LTCs) where mortality ratesrange from 19% to 72% worldwide. Monitoring COVID-19 infections in LTCs remains aparticular challenging. The existing and a continued expected shortage of sufficientmolecular COVID-19 testing coupled to false negative rates as high as 15% necessitatesa critical need for new and complementary technologies that can surveil, alert, and trackCOVID-19 infections in this population. Our group are pioneers in the development ofnovel soft electronics. Our recent publication, supported by our active Phase I STTR,was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering detailing a next generation ultra-lowprofile, soft, and flexible sensor (ADAM) that continuously measures subtle acousto-mechanic signals generated by the body via an embedded high-frequency, 3-axisaccelerometer in direct mechanical communication with the skin. The ADAM sensorcommunicates via Bluetooth with our custom mobile application for real time streamingas well as on sensor data storage enabling stand-alone operation. All data streams arecloud synchronized (HIPAA compliant). The highly novel soft, flexible nature allows forthe ADAM sensor to be mountable on unusual locations of high information density.Specifically, we exploit the SN-the only location on the body where there is nodampening effect at the skin level with the intrathoracic cavity. This enables a SN-mounted ADAM sensor to capture heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), temperature,physical activity (PA), swallow count, and talk time, along with additional novelrespiratory biomarkers relevant to COVID-19. In this proposal, we propose to develop anew COVID-19 software package, machine learning enhancements to our coughalgorithm, and validation in LTCs with both elderly patients and staff to evaluateusability, feasibility, and adherence. The high level of technology readiness with partnerLTCs allows us to deploy efficiently to generate essential data for a future FDAEmergency Use Authorization. Our team of experts in engineering, dermatology,gerontology, and machine learning are highly qualified to develop this COVID-19surveillance system that offers both commercial and clinical value with broadapplicability to a wide range of other respiratory and chronic medical conditions after thepandemic subsides.