American space agency NASA has decided to include the Fitbit Charge 4 device and its Ready for Work solution as a part of a pilot program for its employees. A total of 1,000 NASA employees across six locations in the US will get Fitbit Charge 4 devices and access to the smart wearable maker’s Ready for Work Daily Check-In experience to help them “make more informed decisions about going to work onsite during the COVID-19 pandemic.”.
The employees chosen for this program includes 150 astronauts and NASA employees “critical to future space missions who will use the Fitbit solution as part of the NASA Health Stabilization Program, which is aimed at mitigating the risk of occurrence of infectious disease among astronaut flight crews in the immediate preflight period.”
As per Fitbit, users can log their symptoms and temperature through the Daily Check-In feature in the app. They can also track their health through key metrics and get COVID-19 guidance as per CDC guidelines. These health metrics include resting heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate etc. Thus, the employees will be guided on a daily basis whether to go to work or stay home. The aim of the pilot program, as per Fitbit, is to “help NASA and its employees prevent the spread of COVID-19 while also supporting the overall health and well-being of NASA employees.”
NASA will evaluate the program and consider expanding it to more of its workforce, depending upon whether it finds it competent enough in preventing COVID-19 and tracking other health factors.