While we may be far away from any kind of cure or vaccine, scientists around the world are working relentlessly to make sure we flatten the curve using other means.

A bioengineering team from Harvard and MIT has presented a plan for a mask that glows when it comes in contact with the COVID-19.

“As we open up our transit system, you could mention it being used in airports as we go through security, as we wait to get on a plane,” MIT bioengineer professor Jim Collins told Business Insider. “You or I could use it on the way to and from work. Hospitals could use it for patients as they come in or wait in the waiting room as a pre-screen of who’s infected.”

Source: The Daily News

The WHO said yesterday that we might have to learn to live with the virus and so the labs are presenting follow-up strategies in case the disease never goes away.

In 2014, the same set of researchers also designed a mask that was able to detect the Ebola virus and similar equipment was used for the Zika virus in 2016.

According to the researchers, the mask will present a fluorescent signal if someone with coronavirus breathes, coughs, or sneezes.
Right now, the design of the mask is not complete as the researchers are contemplating on whether to put the sensors inside the mask or create a model that can be attached outside on any face mask.

If this prototype succeeds, it would make the work of the medical staff easier. They would no longer have to wait for test results to diagnose patients with coronavirus.

So far, Collins is happy with the results of the mask. He says, “Once we’re in that stage, then it would be a matter (of) setting up trials with individuals expected to be infected to see if it would work in a real-world setting.”