SUMMARY
UCLA researchers in the Department of Medicine and Anderson School of Management have developed a Smart Personal Protective Equipment (SPPE) to reduce or prevent droplet related infectious disease transmission.
BACKGROUND
During epidemics or pandemics of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19 or MERS-CoV, social distancing is the key to reducing transmission. When social distancing cannot be maintained, such as during sports or family gatherings, monitoring and tracing play an important role to manage the spread of the disease. There is an urgent need for smart personal protective equipment (PPE) that could be used for monitoring and tracing close contacts during the pandemic.
INNOVATION
Researches have developed Smart Personal Protective Equipment (SPPE) to minimize and prevent human-to-human, human-to-animal, or animal-to-animal transmission. The physical face coverings are able to communicate infection risk or proximity to potential infection through synchronous or asynchronous updates on a continual or incremental monitoring basis. The coverings can be used to identify specific close contacts (within 6 feet for >10 minutes) of a user who is diagnosed with a droplet related infectious disease after a gathering as evidence for smart isolations, as opposed to requiring all individuals who may have come in contact with that person to be isolated. The design may be used in conjunction with existing protective equipment (e.g., goggles, mouth guards, etc.) or be a stand alone unit to promote health and wellness.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
ADVANTAGES
STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT
Initial concepts have been completed