Media Watch

Irvine-based Aria Group … and a group including two doctors from University of California, Irvine have come up with a plan to turn household mixers into emergency ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic. … The call to action was put out by the Bridge Ventilator Consortium whose founders include Dr. Govind Rajan, an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist at UCI, and UCI surgeon Dr. Brian Wong. Meanwhile, Ranjan and UCI colleagues are working to validate the design with mannequin testing and secure necessary approvals from the FDA to deploy the solution in U.S. hospitals. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email tocommunications@uci.edu.] Read More

UC Irvine researchers have developed a phone application that could potentially help stem the spread of COVID-19 by tracking and isolating people who may have been exposed to the deadly virus. But activist groups and legal experts are warning of potential privacy encroachments that could occur if tracking technology is widely adopted. … Tyler Yasaka, the project’s lead author, said privacy was a significant consideration for the group as they developed the tool.[Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More

“We’re looking at probably some sort of automated technology-based contact tracing, I think, if we want to be realistic,” says Tyler Yasaka, a software engineer and junior specialist in otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He and his colleagues are among many teams of researchers around the world who have developed mobile apps to track the spread of COVID-19. Read More

An app that has the potential to trace the path of COVID-19, while also maintaining the identity of the individuals who use it, is in the works at the University of California, Irvine. Instead of focusing on who contracts it, the app records that various places the virus itself presents itself, said junior specialist Tyler Ysaka, one of the co-creators of TrackCOVID. … "I tried to think about a design where you really don't keep up with the people as much as possible. You just keep up with the paths that the virus could take," Yasaka said. Read More