OMAHA – A team of University of Nebraska researchers is investigating whether fever data from Internet-connected thermometers can help forecast COVID-19 hot spots in Nebraska weeks before new outbreaks are officially reported.

Fadi Alsaleem, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineer, said data he obtained from the thermometers showed a spike in fevers in Nebraska in mid-March, about a month before a surge in cases was reported in the state.

He and other researchers also are seeking to combine the thermometer data with other data sets to build a model that might better predict how the spread of coronavirus will respond to the relaxation of social distancing guidelines.

The thermometers are produced by Kinsa Inc., a San Francisco-based company that for several years has used anonymous fever data uploaded to the Internet to track influenza.

“I think it’s an exciting development, a pathway forward to predicting where spikes of (COVID-19) will occur so we can have the ability to forecast (and) predict how to respond,” said Freifeld, who recently joined the project.

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