Yale research team develops wearable clip to detect COVID

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have developed a wearable clip that can detect if a person may have been exposed to COVID-19.  

The device captures virus-laden aerosols that deposit on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface, according to a study published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed journal, Environmental Science and Technology Letters.  

Krystal Godri Pollitt, who led the team of researchers who developed the clip, told Fox News it came about through her research measuring a person’s exposure to environmental factors.   

“Through that work, I developed wearable tools that we can measure our exposure to lots of different chemicals within the air and other airborne factors,” Godri Pollitt said. 

Her team pivoted to respiratory viruses in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 

The wearable clip is designed to be reusable with the polymer films being changed. It is intended as a complementary device to at-home testing kits. 

“We want to go a step before that and be able to start thinking about, do we need more infectious control measures in place, do we need less people in this space? Do we need more ventilation?” Godri Pollitt said. “And also thinking about if people are at a potential risk for being infected? If we detect it within the air, there’s a good chance that maybe those people are at risk and should be quarantining.”  

Godri Pollitt told Fox News there is a lot of potential in expanding the clip to other respiratory viruses. The clip is not yet publicly available, but Godri Pollitt hopes it will be in the near future.