The Air Force’s innovation-pushing startup AFWERX aims to buy roughly 10,000 wearable devices that can monitor users’ bodies to pinpoint and tip off personnel of potential COVID-19 infections early on.
As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic—and areas this month are enduring spikes in cases—the subsidiary is planning to put the coronavirus-tracking apparatuses to use in collaboration with the Office of the Joint Surgeon General, according to a request for information published late Tuesday.
It’s not the first time the Air Force considered turning to wearables to learn about employees’ health, and the effort also follows a range of other military-led pursuits to equip staff with portable devices to spot COVID-19.
“The government is seeking commercially available wearable technologies that can provide insight into biometric data (ex: heart rate fluctuation, O2 levels, etc.) that can identify a potential COVID-19 infection early and alert the user through its user dashboard with warnings,” the RFI reads.
It notes that the work will be done in support of the Pandemic Case Management Suite, which it deems an operational requirement meant to boost the Air Force’s moves to combat the pandemic and inform and enhance key leaders’ choices around unit readiness. With so many workers in close quarters, U.S. military branches faced stark < ..
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