From helping doctors remotely track patient health to improving users' hygiene habits, wearable health devices can provide unique solutions during pandemic outbreaks.
Health-focused wearables, from familiar trackers like Fitbits to vibrating bracelets that train wearers not to touch their faces, are seeing renewed interest.
After reaching a double funding record in 2016 (when nearly $700M was invested across 110+ deals), wearable health tech startups have seen declining deals and sub-$550M annual investment for 3 years in a row.
Public interest in the topic had also steadily declined until recent months, when the Covid-19 outbreak, new wearables studies (such as an infectious disease-focused study by Scripps), and recent big tech moves in the wearables space (like Google’s acquisition of Fitbit and Apple’s new health research initiatives) reignited discussions about wearables’ potential in the health sector.
Using CB Insights data and our Infectious Disease Collection, we identified a handful of ways wearables are being deployed to help with infectious disease care and containment.
