In a report by ACN, Hospital Clínic, a Barcelona hospital, is helping the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop an algorithm for an application that can detect COVID-19 cases by recorded coughing.The project is being led by a Catalan researcher, Brian Subirana, and is aimed at confirming positive cases by answering questions and recording samples of coughs. The hope for the algorithm is to help with the return to normal life and to provide a simple way to test and prevent more outbreaks. Subirana is calling for help by more contributions of cough samples. The initiative is currently focused on collecting data to produce trustworthy results, but it will soon be presented to the scientific community for validation.
The use of algorithms and applications to combat the current pandemic is a sign of the times and an example of how people are leaning on technology more than ever before. Catalonia’s advanced medical system and research will be extremely helpful making headway to combat the virus. I enjoyed this article because I think all the different ways people are using technology to make the best of the situation is very encouraging. I think this advance in technology will affect health systems’ operations going forward.
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