NBA Restart Plan Includes Using Oura Rings To Catch COVID-19 Symptoms (engadget.com) 18
When the NBA restarts its season next month, it may pipe in crowd noise from the NBA 2K video game to help simulate fans in the arena. Another proposal is to have players use Oura's smart rings to predict the onset of COVID-19 related symptoms. Engadget reports: According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the specifics were laid out in an informational memo dubbed "Life inside the Bubble," that described testing plans, quarantine protocols and more. The part that's specifically interesting to us -- other than players only lounges with NBA 2K and bracelets that beep if people are within six feet of each other for too long -- is its proposed use of Oura's smart rings. Earlier this month, study results from West Virginia University's Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute suggested that physiological data from the rings, combined in its digital platform with information obtained from wearers via in-app surveys, can "forecast and predict the onset of COVID-19 related symptoms" three days in advance, with 90 percent accuracy.
According to The Athletic, use of the rings will be optional, and there's no word on what other data will be used to track possible symptoms. ESPN reporter Zach Lowe tweeted that if players wear the rings, team personnel will not have access unless it detects an "illness probability score" that triggers a medical review. The player's union hasn't announced it's fully on board with the restart just yet but plans appear to be in motion, and it's possible that if you're watching games played in mostly-empty arenas with video game crowd noise, some of the NBA players spectating will have very familiar-looking jewelry on.
According to The Athletic, use of the rings will be optional, and there's no word on what other data will be used to track possible symptoms. ESPN reporter Zach Lowe tweeted that if players wear the rings, team personnel will not have access unless it detects an "illness probability score" that triggers a medical review. The player's union hasn't announced it's fully on board with the restart just yet but plans appear to be in motion, and it's possible that if you're watching games played in mostly-empty arenas with video game crowd noise, some of the NBA players spectating will have very familiar-looking jewelry on.
Interesting for side bets (Score:3)
Would love to have that ring data feed to increase odds of placing winning bets!
Well actually I don't bet at all, but you can imagine the possibilities there, when they have bets on things like performance of individual players...
Rings measuring people's distances? (Score:5, Funny)
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explode if they get too close
Finally, a sane proposal for social distancing.
-or some sort of porn fetish.
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You can accomplish the same thing, more or less, by just not bathing.
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You can accomplish the same thing, more or less, by just not bathing.
Wetwork vs drywork?
Re:Rings measuring people's distances? (Score:4, Funny)
The article and the links don't even describe what an Oura ring is. I was a afraid to google it lest it was some sort of porn site. (does NSFW apply if I'm working from home?)
Cool distopian plot (Score:2)
Here's what an Oura ring is (Score:4, Informative)
An Oura ring is a wearable device that tracks your pulse and temperature. It costs about $300. Unlike an Apple watch or a Fitbit it has no display; it just collects data. It stores the data and can dump the data to your smartphone over Bluetooth.
Oura claims it can also infer your respiratory rate from subtle changes in your pulse. I skimmed the explanation but I don't remember what it said.
Oura provides an app that collects the data and then tells you various things about your fitness. In particular it tells you whether it thinks you got a good night's sleep and how your body might be feeling (as in "take it easy today, you aren't well-rested" or "today's a good day to really hit your training hard").
Here's the web site for the product:
https://ouraring.com/ [ouraring.com]
University of California, San Francisco is running a study to see if the Oura ring's data can detect the onset of COVID-19. Volunteers wear Oura rings and share data, and then if any of the volunteers get sick with COVID-19 the study will be able to review the shared data and see if the ring spotted anything that could have predicted it. Oura has provided the study with some rings, so if you are associated with UCSF you might be able to get a loaner ring to join the study. People who bought their own Oura ring are welcome to volunteer to join the study.
https://osher.ucsf.edu/research/current-research-studies/tempredict [ucsf.edu]
According to this article, a study from West Virginia University showed that an Oura ring can flag COVID-19 symptoms up to 3 days before the person might be aware of them. Success rate about 90%. That's not 100% but it seems IMHO more practical than trying to repeatedly run tests on healthy people to try to catch the disease, and I was considering buying an Oura ring anyway. (It "gamifies" getting a good night's sleep and I need to work on my sleep habits.)
https://www.engadget.com/west-virginia-university-oura-ring-covid-19-symptoms-003239603.html [engadget.com]
I can't find it now, but I read a news item about a guy with an Oura ring. One morning his Oura smartphone app said "your temperature is higher than normal today" and while he didn't feel anything unusual, he thought he had recently had an opportunity to get exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus; so he went and got a test, and found that he did indeed have COVID-19. Thus he got started on treatment several days early.
Now that dexamethasone seems to have performed well in randomized tests [scientificamerican.com], maybe catching COVID-19 a few days early will help. And a 90% success rate is better than nothing.
In principle, a smart watch should be able to collect the same data, but Oura claims that it's better to measure temperature from a finger [ouraring.com].
There are plenty of reviews of the Oura ring on the web, and review videos on YouTube.
P.S. The Oura web site seems to be responding poorly right now. I think this news caused a huge spike in interest and the site can't handle it all.
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The Oura web site is working again and I found the explanation of how the app infers breathing rate from pulse rate data.
https://ouraring.com/respiratory-rate [ouraring.com]
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So it can be set off by the common cold, the flu, even severe allergies, hell, even a bad hangover, which I suppose for some insane reason will all be reported as covid 19 and what ever you do, don't do any intense physical activity in hot climates because the corporate law enforcers will be coming for you, to isolate you, for your own protection of course, you nasty free roaming human.
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So it can be set off by the common cold, the flu, even severe allergies, hell, even a bad hangover, which I suppose for some insane reason will all be reported as covid 19 and what ever you do, don't do any intense physical activity in hot climates because the corporate law enforcers will be coming for you, to isolate you, for your own protection of course, you nasty free roaming human.
The Russian Bots on Facebook need your support. Please post there instead.
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I just re-read the above. I wish I had written it a little better:
When I said "run tests on healthy people to try to catch the disease" I meant "run tests on people who don't have any symptoms to try to detect the disease before they have any symptoms". I didn't phrase that well, sorry.
When I said "maybe catching COVID-19 a few days early will help", I meant "maybe detecting it a few days early will help." The same mistake! Sorry, again.
I didn't mention that the Oura ring also has an accelerometer so it
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Nobody cares. (Score:1)
Seriously. Nobody cares.