Smart thermometer map is an early-warning system for coronavirus spread in the US

As the health situation in the world is rapidly changing, many companies vow to help keep track of the pandemic. Google and Facebook are reportedly in talks with the US government for sharing location data from users’ smartphones to help keep the quarantine in place, while apps like Messenger, Snapchat, and WhatsApp launched various coronavirus-related information features for the public.



Smartphone thermometer manufacturer Kinsa decided to offer data gathered from its devices statewide in the form of a map, showing fever symptoms around the US, Android Central reports. The COVID-19 is associated with high body temperature and fever, but it is also worth pointing out that the outbreak overlaps with the annual flu season, resulting in the grim picture above.

Much more interesting is, however, the “Atypical Symptoms” option in the map, which matches the current situation to Kinsa’s own predictions, based on data gathered across the country in previous years. "This aggregated, anonymized dataset is rich in the information needed to know where and when illness is spreading in real-time, giving the right organizations the advance warning needed to stop outbreaks.," writes the company on its official website.



Even though there are some discrepancies with the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US at present, Kinsa’s map shows a strong correlation with another service, launched to show the pandemic spread in real-time - the interactive map from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) (shown below).



Data from personal thermometer readings can prove to be very useful and help both medical specialists and the Government get preliminary information about potential coronavirus clusters even before cases are reported.