Does it have limitations? *Survey conducted by Kinsa across 1,018 schools. From now on, you can use your Kinsa QuickCare thermometer to take temperature readings independently, whether the Kinsa app … An April article in Slate cited a similar complaint from a Kinsa user who had “‘no idea’ how else her family’s data was being used.”. Still high, but not nearly as worrying, and not outside what we expect of my fevers. On Top of Everything Else, Wednesday Was Also the Deadliest Day of the Pandemic. When shifted by 18 days later, the illnesses and deaths align almost perfectly. But it’s something.”. kinsa - Kinsa Inc. is a health technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. But the data also point to spots in Florida, Michigan, Arizona and eastern Texas, where not as many cases have been reported. Arizona State University Kinsa smart thermometer uses app to note symptoms, curb disease ... Kinsa’s approach has the advantage of not working in a vacuum, Singh said. “The people on the call were saying, ‘This is clearly wrong; there’s nothing going on in those states,’” Mr. Shah said. Still, the information Kinsa is collecting is personal medical data, and surveillance is surveillance. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders are working to slow and blunt the ongoing coronavirus pandemic according to fever trend data aggregated by remote health monitoring company Kinsa … Three-quarters of Americans have been urged or ordered to stay at home, to the extent possible, to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and those measures appear to be working, The New York Times reports, citing data from internet-connected thermometer company Kinsa. That sample is also drawn from the pool of people who have bought this particular smart thermometer. Kinsa is a company on a mission to curb the spread of illness. We still don’t have adequate testing and tracing capabilities across many regions. And without preventive drugs or a vaccine, catching viral outbreaks early is critical. Add to Cart. (A blog post Kinsa recently released on their demographics shows that people 35–44 are overrepresented among Kinsa users as compared with the general population, while people 65 and over are underrepresented.) All contents © 2021 The Slate Group LLC. It is still a fairly good smart thermometer, but is not as reliable as Kinsa so far. In many cases, those who fall ill are likely to take their temperature days, even weeks, before they head to a doctor or get tested. Kinsa … The thermometers and their app upload temperature readings to a centralized database, allowing Kinsa to … Kinsa (custom credit)/Kinsa The national map is mostly blue, as cool as your forehead feels after the fever relents. “Kinsa was one of the first to have something that remotely approached a leading indicator. Kinsa is also working on a feature on their app that will help you track illnesses that are plaguing your child’s school and friends – a great way to help understand any symptoms your own child may develop. Drawing on its atypical-illness monitoring, Kinsa recently began calculating a new metric: real-time, atypical disease transmission. Kinsa, a smart thermometer company, offers a side door to tracking the virus—or at least symptoms related to it. But in a blog post, the company’s founder, Inder Singh, made that logical leap anyway, saying that the results indicate social distancing is “working.” The goal, a Kinsa spokesperson told me, is not to paint a rosy picture of what’s happening in the U.S., but to identify signals that indicate abnormally high levels of fever in specific regions—and to show people some data that might motivate us to keep up the distancing. And you'll never see this message again. If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker. No data was available for Hawaii or Alaska. But Ms. Farr wasn’t so sure. What makes these thermometers interesting is that they connect to Kinsa's app via Bluetooth and give you personalized guidance based on your symptoms. Kinsa, a smart thermometer company, offers a side door to tracking the virus—or at least symptoms related to it. This tool could help. Kinsa’s biggest limiting factor right now is sample size. Soon, much of the country was experiencing unexpected community transmission of disease, which, according to Kinsa, could be attributed to either the flu or the coronavirus. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. Suddenly, the Kinsa thermometer became one of the first real-time data sources at the beginning of the pandemic to prove social distancing was effective. It’s a warning siren, not a detailed accounting of what has happened. Kinsa’s spokesperson also emphasized that the map’s data is anonymized and aggregated, with no way to pinpoint individuals. Luckily, a quick Google search did the trick, and the Kinsa app and website’s privacy policy appears to have been last updated in December. But Kinsa told me it’s not really tracking outbreaks; it’s tracking atypical illnesses and whether transmission is higher or lower than expected. “In some cases you can see community spread in a household well before you see it in the larger population,” he said. Show per page. 14 days before the first Covid-19-related death, historical fever data and working with epidemiologists, distributing thermometers and using Kinsa data. Read more. Now that much of the United States has been “sheltering in place” for weeks, it’s natural to wonder whether our collective efforts are working. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. The company says its program has been shown to help schools improve attendance, and has yielded years of real-time data on fever rates to help compare to official estimates and develop its models. “I want to help governments deploy resources properly to save lives.”. Any data collected by the company and shared with public health officials is a bird’s-eye view — it’s aggregated and tied not to individuals but to neighborhoods. Kinsa QuickCare Smart Digital Thermometer with Smartphone App & Health Guidance . Having temperature data from families in those communities — often large, multigenerational families living under one roof — is crucial in early outbreak detection. To Kinsa’s credit, the company has included on its FAQ site the caveat that its map does not show COVID-19 infections. Two million families use the Kinsa thermometer and app to detect illness and get guidance on the care and treatment to get better faster. The company has a unique perspective on the coronavirus; Kinsa can identify atypical-fever trends that are likely to be Covid-19 cases. As this window acts like the lens of a camera, it must always be clean. The chart below shows atypical illnesses compared with reported deaths in each state. Pennsylvania, too, “might see an uptick.”. Thankfully, once it’s linked to a smart phone, I can still get a manual reading. Because those willing to spend upward of $30 for a connected medical device skew younger and wealthier than most Americans, Kinsa is working with state governments and private donors to distribute thermometers in low-income communities. Set Descending Direction. Products are not redeemable for cash or transferable. If Kinsa users were specifically asked to share their data for this Health Weather Map, would they have agreed? Clean DAILY with alcohol and a Q-Tip and dry with a new Q-Tip. So far Kinsa’s atypical-fever data has identified Covid-19 outbreak trends early — the company notes that it has pinpointed case spikes in major Covid-19 epicenters on average 14 days before the first Covid-19-related death. An increase means illnesses are spreading more than in previous years. Item sent back for refund. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. The company has a cache of users’ body temperature data, which it has begun to examine for trends. All rights reserved. This thermometer has a bluetooth connection to synchronize the data with our phone through the My App. A smart health tool for your iOS or Android Device. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Kinsa Smart Thermometer for Fever - Digital Medical Baby, Kid and Adult Termometro - Accurate, Fast, FDA Cleared Thermometer for Oral, Armpit or Rectal Temperature Reading - QuickCare at Amazon.com. The 200 schools that are accepted into Kinsa’s FLUency School Health Program will receive one (1) Kinsa Smart Thermometer for every family and staff member in the school. With no coronavirus cure or vaccine, early detection of outbreaks is crucial. Among those limitations is the varying nature of Covid-19 cases by community. But even in a crisis, privacy matters, and sharing personal data—even in aggregate—should merit close scrutiny. But in a small-enough company, one could imagine employers reverse engineering that information based on who calls out sick. That’s a business model that Kinsa is considering, though Mr. Singh stressed all data would be aggregate and would not allow employers to single out employees. * Empower your families and staff to accurately identify illness at its first sign with Kinsa’s award-winning smart thermometer. You can cancel anytime. The app allows users to keep a record of their temperature and list their symptoms. And more recent data in states like Arizona appears to show increases in transmission right around the time the state reopened and just before case counts began to rise. Slate, And perhaps more importantly, what safeguards are there from preventing this data from backfiring on a community, or even individuals? Ultimately, customers will have to choose whether they trust Kinsa or any disease surveillance application to handle their data. New America, and That lag between first symptoms and a health care provider visit can make tracing the virus and modeling trends difficult — it’s reactive, not proactive. Health Weather Map” with data broken down by county, accessible to anyone online. Covid-19 symptoms are varied, but many patients (between 83 percent and 99 percent, according to the C.D.C.) First off, the metric Kinsa’s using—fewer fevers—might not be particularly meaningful for revealing coronavirus transmission. “So long as my privacy is respected, I don’t feel like this is a tough trade-off,” he said. Even if Kinsa’s data set does reveal something about COVID-19, it represents a small sample of the U.S. Learn More. She told me that users opt in to having their data used for things like the Health Weather Map, though there is an option to opt out of sharing data. But that data isn’t always automated or shared efficiently. He showed them a prelaunch version of the HealthWeather map, which showed significant atypical fevers in Florida and other places. There are limitations to the data. Anonymized temperature and location data may seem innocuous compared with the massive surveillance efforts that have taken off in the name of COVID, but health data is still a form of surveillance. When we agree to terms and conditions for digital services—whether that’s Kinsa, Google Maps, or Facebook—we’re often agreeing to a blanket opt-in, where we’re offering to share our data with those companies for many uses, including new ones we never imagined as part of those terms and conditions we signed years ago. Kinsa also cited Missouri and Utah as states where daily case counts will climb, though absolute case numbers may not look out of control. This was also verified at the hospital when they re-checked her temperature. I talked with a Kinsa user who said she was aware that Kinsa could track fevers by state or region, but otherwise had “no idea” how else her family’s data was being used. The Kinsa thermometer consistently read high compared to the CVS thermometer, as high as 2 degrees. The Kinsa user I spoke with didn’t remember opting in to this map or getting email communication about it, either. $24.99. From February to mid-March, infectious illnesses were spreading across the country at an unusually high rate. Read … approval in 2014. As the pandemic rages on, it’s worth taking a step back and asking what data users are giving up in the name of COVID, and whether surveillance is worth it. And the company pointed to the Midwest as an area to watch closely. When the pop-up appears within 10 seconds, tap Connect; If the pop-up does not appear, follow this guide for iPhone or Android; You’re done! When you see the Bluetooth symbol flashing on the display, the reset is complete. People with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reported a range of symptoms; many don’t exhibit fevers at all. There are a few ways this could happen: a National Syndromic Surveillance Program like the one run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can theoretically track symptoms reported in emergency room patients. This thermometer is highly inaccurate and needs to be taken off the market. Kinsa for Families. When the dates are shifted, the tight overlap between illnesses and deaths becomes even clearer. Professionally accurate and reliable oral, rectal and armpit temperature readings in 8 seconds or less Location data collected and shared by Google and Facebook do the same. I'll sleep better tonight, but I am really unhappy with the Kinsa smart thermometer. I asked a Kinsa spokesperson about how the Health Weather Map was rolled out, and whether users were specifically asked to opt in. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2016. The thermometers take your temperature and then let you upload the reading to an app. Helpful. If we could detect irregular virus transmission at the earliest onset of symptoms, public health departments could act fast to encourage people to isolate or advise nonessential businesses to shut back down. Sort By. These are important precautions to take. Mr. Singh told me he believes placing thermometers in low-income communities is important — and not only as a philanthropic effort. It said it was seeing “both increasing atypical Rt and increasing fever counts” in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, suggesting a forthcoming rise in confirmed cases. Still, as researchers and companies rush to collect and analyze the data they have, users are left out of the discussion. Is the virus spreading more slowly as a result? The company believes this data could help to monitor the impact of reopening strategies — unusual upticks in Kinsa’s Rt could be a sign of an impending outbreak cluster. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. I just can’t use the app. Causes of Low Readings. Of the eight people I spoke with outside the company, all spoke highly of Kinsa’s commitment to public health above all. It is a commonly used metric to understand whether a virus is growing or under control. Major news outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe have reported that Kinsa’s data demonstrates the spread of COVID might be slowing. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. 1. 40% of school families do not have access to a working thermometer. It, too, mentions personal info may be used for “business purposes” like marketing, or given to third party service providers, but none of the scenarios seem to account for a public map. (A Kinsa spokesperson was clear about this as well.). Kinsa Inc. is a health technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Could the Rioters Have Breached the Capitol’s Cybersecurity? I attempted to access the privacy page linked from the company’s FAQs page but got an error message; I then also attempted to access the “additional legal details” linked on the bottom of Kinsa’s privacy policy page, but the link just redirected me to that same page. 9 Items . So perhaps the best way to think about Kinsa’s data is as a way to identify anomalies in data, which public health officials can then explore in their communities. The company has roughly 1.5 million thermometers in the field. Still, it’s hard to know how well Kinsa users reflect the U.S.’s socioeconomic diversity; Kinsa’s cheapest thermometer is $35.99, a fair bit more expensive than your typical $5 drugstore thermometer. Within days, testing showed that South Florida had indeed become an epicenter. that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. And while Kinsa is adamant that individual data will never be shared, popularizing thermometer data is bound to raise privacy concerns. What makes these thermometers interesting is that they connect to Kinsa's app via Bluetooth and give you personalized guidance based on your symptoms. The company started in 2012 and the thermometer got F.D.A. Based on the CVS thermometer, our baby never even had a fever! The reset steps are different depending on whether or not your Kinsa has a side button: If your Kinsa has a side button and a large round button on top, hold down both buttons for about 10 seconds. That said, he thought Kinsa’s onboarding process for the app didn’t do a great job at explaining how his information would be used. Image via Kinsa. As for the future, the company told me it was seeing high atypical transmission in Texas, Florida and Arizona, suggesting the states have yet to peak. And then there are the smart thermometers. It’s clear that companies with access to user data want to help track the spread of COVID, and their contributions could be incredibly valuable. All the while, the app has been tracking influenza fever patterns and collecting data by ZIP code. But that page made no mention of, say, creating a “U.S. Social distancing appears to be working, according to a company that has more than a million smart thermometers in circulation. I’ve been preoccupied with the question of how to reopen without letting the pandemic spiral further out of control, if that’s even possible. We re-imagined the first product you turn to when feeling sick, transforming the ordinary thermometer into a communication system. (Each thermometer is valued at $20). On March 14, Kinsa’s data indicated an unusual rise in fevers in South Florida, even though it was not known to be a Covid-19 epicenter. Missoula is a midsize city that locked down early and has avoided an uncontrolled outbreak. And yet, states are reopening, assessing risk on the fly and seeing their cases surge. Open the sensor arm and check to be sure the probe window is spotless. “So it likely wouldn’t be a reliable indicator for the area.” But other, larger cites have shown interest. Inder Singh says he has incorporated one into a helpful early-detection system. BP. Kinsa’s user demographics reported in a 2018 study suggest it’s skewed toward younger people, and uptake is higher in certain states, including California, Texas, and New York. In my conversations with Mr. Singh, he stressed repeatedly that Kinsa’s user profile information and granular data like GPS location are not made available to third parties (though the company earns revenue licensing ZIP code-level fever data to companies like Clorox for advertising purposes). Early warning signals that could save lives and keep hospitals from reaching capacity are a trade-off that seems far easier to stomach than, say, giving up one’s data to get better-targeted online ads. Universal mask wearing seems like a start. In their paper, the company’s researchers report that readings “may not uniformly cover socioeconomic or age groups or geographic locations”; they specifically mention people over 50 as an “underrepresented population.” However, a Kinsa spokesperson told me that since that study was done, they’ve had more uptake from users older than 50, and that Kinsa’s current demographics reflect the general U.S. population, with more users in highly dense urban areas. In large families, he suggested, it’s possible to watch the virus spread across family members. Smart thermometer maker Kinsa has been working on building, accurate, predictive models of how seasonal illnesses like the flu travel in and among communities – … If wealthier, tech-savvy people in the U.S. are spiking fewer fevers, that might not tell us anything about national trends. It may, however, buy us some precious time. During the month of April, transmission was atypically low, corresponding with many states’ social-distancing policies. Ear Thermometer Troubleshooting. The company started in 2012 and the thermometer got F.D.A. Nirav Shah, a former New York State Health Department commissioner and a Kinsa adviser, recalls being in a Zoom meeting with public health officials in early March. Smart thermometer maker Kinsa has been working on building accurate, predictive models of how seasonal illnesses like the flu travel in and among communities — and its fever map is … The shape looks similar, but it peaks about 18 days before deaths. Kinsa smart thermometers are being used to identify atypical-fever trends that are likely to indicate Covid-19 outbreaks. Edit: Apparently, there was an update released shortly after I purchased the thermometer. “But a week or so later, we saw cases rise.”. Non-contact Infrared Thermometer . A smart thermometer won’t save us from ourselves. 1) Dirty Probe Window . 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