A Touchless Tool to Screen for Covid-19 for reopening Industries

加拿大正进入COVID-19大流行的重要而危险的阶段：重新开放工业。因此，迫切需要一种快速准确的筛查工具，以帮助确保重新进入工作场所的人是COVID-19阴性的。该建议为此目的提供了一种创新、易于实施和快速的筛选工具。基于我们多年来对诊断目的的呼吸音分析，我们假设COVID-19阳性者的呼吸音具有不同的特征，即使该人无症状。因此，基于我们在设计声学诊断设备方面的专业知识，我们建议以iPhone应用程序的形式开发一种集成的诊断模式识别工具，使用音频和温度作为输入来识别COVID-19阳性个体。拟议中的数字技术将筛选健康或可能呈COVID-19阳性的个人。后一组将被推荐进行进一步的测试。拟议中的应用程序的目标是提供更准确的早期筛查（目前只测量体温），并减少COVID-19测试的负担。这种数字技术将首先在马尼托巴省使用和测试，然后在加拿大全国使用和测试，并有可能在未来公开使用。 为了使用所提出的筛选工具，将iPhone放在离个人嘴1厘米的范围内，并指示个人通过嘴进行五次深呼吸。每个人的呼吸声将被iPhone记录下来，而他/她的体温也将被热摄像头记录下来。该应用程序将首先使用其声学分析来识别声音是健康还是异常。如果结局异常，则将提供问卷调查，沿着进一步的声学分析，以排除其他常见的合并症（例如慢性肺病）。最后，基于输入，诊断算法将决定是否应该将个体转诊以进行进一步测试。由于拟议的最终产品是一款智能手机应用程序，这两家软件合作伙伴公司将在最终的整合和开发中发挥关键作用。

Canada is entering the important yet dangerous phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: the reopening of industry. As such, there is an urgent need for a quick and accurate screening tool to help ensure people re-entering the workplace are COVID-19 negative. This proposal offers an innovative, simple-to-implement and quick screening tool for this purpose. Based on our many years of respiratory sounds analysis for diagnostic purposes, we hypothesize that breathing sounds of a COVID-19 positive person would have different characteristics even if the person is asymptomatic. Thus, built upon our expertise in designing acoustic diagnostic devices, we propose the development of an integrated diagnostic pattern recognition tool in the form of an iPhone app, using audio and temperature as inputs to identify COVID-19 positive individuals. The proposed digital technology will screen individuals as healthy or possibly COVID-19 positive. The latter group will then be recommended for further testing. The goal of the proposed app is to provide much more accurate early screening (currently only temperature is taken), and to reduce the burden of COVID-19 tests. This digital technology will be used and tested in Manitoba initially and later nationally in Canada, with the potential of being publicly available in the future. To use the proposed screening tool, an iPhone is held within 1 cm of an individual's mouth and the individual instructed to take five deep breaths through the mouth. The individuals' breathing sounds will be recorded by the iPhone, while his/her temperature will also be recorded by the heat camera. The app will first use its acoustic analysis to identify sounds as healthy or abnormal. If the outcome is abnormal, then a questionnaire will be provided, along with a further acoustic analysis to rule out other common comorbid conditions (e.g. chronic lung disease). Finally, based on the inputs, the diagnostic algorithm will decide if the individual should be referred for further testing or not. Since the proposed end product is a smartphone app, the two software partner companies will play a crucial role in the final integration and development.