Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) are working to create a new way to detect COVID-19 that may one day be right under your nose.
The tool is a sticker with a color-changing test strip that goes right on your mask and is used to detect the coronavirus on the user's breath or saliva.
UC San Diego News Center | UCSD
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These studies will lay the foundation to get us thinking about how we can use our masks in safer and smarter ways.
Jesse Jokerst, UCSD
The team is designing the stickers so that they can be put on any mask — N95, surgical, or cloth.
According to UCSD, the idea is that as you breathe through the mask, particles will accumulate in the test strip.
At the end of the day or during a mask change, you break the blister pack on the sticker which changes color if there's a positive reading for COVID-19.
"We’re taking what many people are already wearing and repurposing them, so we can quickly and easily identify new infections," said Jesse Jokerst, a professor at the UCSD School of Engineering and lead investigator of the project.
Jokerst noted that the strips are not meant to replace current COVID-19 testing protocols — so we might not be rid of the brain stick just yet.
"If it gets triggered, then you know there’s a problem and that’s when you would look into it with more sophisticated testing," said Jokerst.
The report from UCSD included that the strips can be easily mass-produced and will ideally be affordable enough for daily testing.