The COVID-19 Experience

COVID-19 has only made the case for predictive prevention even more urgent and pressing. The epidemic painfully exposed the gaps in our current healthcare capabilities in term of controlling the spread of infectious diseases. While healthcare professionals at the frontline have been more than efficient and even risked their lives taking care of the sick, complete lockdowns of the State and the economy is primarily a result of our current inabilities of managing infectious pandemics more efficiently. There is a clear gap in the system –– currently, no organisation in any country has population-level information about who have the highest risk of being hospitalised or even dying from the virus. Due to fragmented (or even lack of) such information, it is impossible to implement targeted restrictive measures and coordinate at the population level. Because we did not have effective way for prevention, this left us with no option but to shut down and accept the wide-ranging socio-economic consequences.   

However, it doesn’t have to be so with the right predictive prevention tools and a centralised database for targeted disease management. Nightingale has been working on prevention of chronic diseases for years and the pandemic just made the tools of prevention more needed than ever.  

But quite strikingly, in addition to the chronic diseases, recent findings with Nightingale’s technology show promise for preventative COVID-19 risk detection and other infectious diseases as well. As we now begin to relax the social distancing measures, such predictive and preventative health technology can be a game- changing tool for identifying high-risk people and help in taking targeted measures in case of another pandemic or in managing a second wave of the coronavirus.  

The bigger picture (and the most effective preventive solution) is to give predictive health tools in the individual’s hand that raises individuals' awareness of their own health risks. In the case of the coronavirus, those most at risk would receive a personal warning of having high risk for getting severe symptoms (from say a national actor), enabling their own preventive action. This would enable the rest of the society to function nearly normally and avoid another complete lockdown. We strongly believe, in both, infectious and chronic diseases, that when individuals are given the opportunity for a better and healthier life, they will take actions improving their own health but also reducing the costs of medical care. This is a true win-win for everyone and the future of health.

Teemu Suna, Founder & CEO of Nightingale Health