As Australia and many other countries begin to “flatten the curve”, attention is now firmly turning to economic recovery and a return to some semblance of societal “normality”. Smart sensing has a critical role to play not only in the clinical diagnosis and therapy of COVID-19 but in the detection and compliance factors that will be required as societies and economies emerge from lockdown measures. 

Across a series of five virtual workshops, the NSSN brings together researchers, industry and government to explore innovative solutions to address COVID-19 issues where smart sensing can play a critical role.

This workshop focusses on Individual-level Diagnosis Tools. There have been reports that healthcare professionals handling COVID-19 patients are more likely to contract the virus. The Independent reported that one in four NHS doctor is sick or in quarantine. All over the US, doctors, nurses, and EMTs are reported to have fallen ill with COVID-19, and more are quarantine according to the Washington Post. Furthermore, viruses replicate exponentially. A norovirus study shows it only needs 18 particles to cause an infection. 

Healthcare workers are constantly exposed to the COVID-19 virus.  The exact mechanisms of disease transmission for high concentrations of the virus are not fully understood. There is a need to track on the concentration of virus they are exposed to, not only to respond and minimise the risk of contracting the disease themselves but also to study what is the full effects of the exposure to the virus, e.g., how much do you have on you to contract the disease, is the symptoms more severe when you are exposed to a higher concentration on the virus.  

This workshop is by invitation only. If you feel you have a valuable contribution and wish to participate, please contact Jane Evans, NSSN MedTech Theme Leader.