Novel, Low-Cost COVID-19 Point of Care Monitoring and Triaging Device

COVID-19检测是管理疫情的主要策略，也是重启加拿大经济所需的最重要标准和措施之一（第一部长关于支持重启经济的共享公共卫生方法的声明，2020年4月28日）。通常使用两种类型的诊断设备：1）基于实验室的设备和2）护理点（Point of Care，简称PDA）设备，这是一种移动的解决方案，可在家中、医生办公室和长期护理院使用。到目前为止，加拿大卫生部仅批准了一种基于核酸的生物识别设备。 虽然该设备专注于COVID-19诊断，但仍然没有价格低廉且可用于收集与COVID-19相关的实时生命体征的移动的基于健康的（mHealth）工具。这些迹象对于早期评估和监测潜在病例（自我隔离的人）、假阴性病例（检测结果为阴性但需要进一步监测的病例）或生活在长期护理院的老年人等风险群体非常重要。 为了支持这些重要需求，我们的目标是动员一个简单、方便和具有成本效益的新冠肺炎自我评估和监测系统。这一目标将通过快速重新配置我们现有的基于移动健康的诊断系统来实现，该系统名为NewPneu，旨在协助儿童肺炎评估。重新配置的系统将支持对所有年龄段的COVID-19检测呈阳性的人进行更有效、高效和实时的监测。新系统还将支持对需要医院转诊以进行进一步管理和诊断的潜在COVID-19病例进行分类（即，核酸检测）。

Testing for COVID-19 is a major strategy to manage the pandemic and one of the most important criteria and measures that are needed to restart the economy in Canada (First Ministers' statement on shared public health approach to support restarting the economy, April 28, 2020). Two types of diagnostic devices are commonly used: 1) Lab-based devices and 2) Point of Care (PoC) devices, which are mobile solutions that can be used at homes, in doctors' offices and long-term care homes. Only one nucleic acid-based PoC device is authorized by Health Canada to date. While this device focuses on COVID-19 diagnosis, there are still no mobile health-based (mHealth-based) tools that are inexpensive and can be used to collect real-time vital signs related to COVID-19. These signs are important for early assessment and monitoring of potential cases (people in self-isolation), false-negative cases (cases that test negative but require further monitoring), or groups at risks such as elderly people living in long-term care homes. To support these important demands, our goal is to mobilize a simple, accessible and cost-effective PoC COVID-19 self-assessment and monitoring system. This goal will be achieved by rapidly reconfiguring our existing mHealth-based PoC system, called NewPneu, which was designed to assist in pneumonia assessment in children. The reconfigured system will support more effective, efficient and real-time monitoring of people of all ages who test positive for COVID-19. The new system will also support triaging of potential cases of COVID-19 that need hospital referral for further management and diagnosis (i.e., nucleic acid-based testing).