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COVID-19 Symptom App to Study Disease Onset and Progression

Article

Originally published in Mass General

In This Article

  • Having accurate information on individuals who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (and those who aren't) is critical to tracking the onset and progression of the current pandemic
  • Researchers led by Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, have developed a COVID-19 symptom research app, which already has close to 2 million users each day
  • The app will help identify those at risk sooner and help slow the outbreak of the disease

Having accurate information on individuals who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (and those who aren't) is critical to tracking the onset and progression of the current pandemic. Research led by Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, director for cancer epidemiology in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit (CTEU) in the Department of Medicine at Mass General, in collaboration with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Christopher Gardner, PhD, at Stanford Medical, health care science company ZOE, and Tim Spector of King's College London, UK, has resulted in a new tool to aid in this issue.

The collaborators have developed a COVID-19 symptom research app, which already has close to 2 million users each day. The COVID Symptom Tracker will record information from millions of Americans, including health care professionals, cancer patients and survivors.

By collecting information on the users' current health, and tracking any new symptoms on a daily basis, researchers can uncover important information about COVID-19 symptoms and why some individuals get sicker than others. Because of this, the app will help identify those at risk sooner and help slow the outbreak of the disease.

The researchers have also partnered with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and the Harvard Nurses' Health Studies to collect data through the app on certain high-risk populations, such as cancer patients and survivors, and health care workers who may be trading people with COVID-19.

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