i3 - September/October 2020 - 29

By Riya Anandwala

Policy

FAC E S O F I N N OVAT I O N

Inder Singh,
CEO of Kinsa

hroughout his career in public health, Inder Singh has
focused on mitigating the spread of infectious diseases.
While observing how public health agencies approach
health crises, he has been consistently surprised by the lack of
definitive, real-time data about where illnesses were taking place.
Disappointed by the underuse of technology to provide crucial knowledge, he
saw a clear need to build a better techbased, informative system to track illnesses. That's when he established Kinsa
- a public health company that builds
predictive models designed to serve as
an early warning system for contagious
illness. Kinsa aggregates public health
insights from its 1.5 million smart thermometers in use across the U.S. to identify areas at risk for increasing illness.
In a conversation with i3, Singh talks
about how Kinsa is informing key stakeholders about the spread of COVID-19
and the evolution of digital health.

Q The onset of COVID-19 has highlighted

the value of telehealth and advanced its
use and adoption. What is the significance
of this digital health evolution for your
company?
A The pandemic has not only accelerated
the development of telehealth tools, but it
has demonstrated why they are important
for detecting and responding to outbreaks
as quickly as possible. I wish it hadn't taken
a pandemic for the importance of digital
health tools to come to light, but I'm grateful that our product's ability to detect and
respond to outbreaks early gives us an
opportunity to save lives. Our goal is to spot
little fires of infection and give decisionmakers the information they need to put
them out before they grow into an inferno.

Courtesy of Kinsa

Q Kinsa was one of the first to inform

key stakeholders on the spread of coronavirus through its fever maps in March.
What prompted you to be at the forefront
of this issue?

C TA . t e c h / i 3

i3_0920_29_Policy_FacesOfInnovation.indd 29

A Creating awareness of the spread of
infectious disease is Kinsa's mission. We've
long known that if we want to contain
illness, early knowledge is power. We've
been doing this work on the flu for years
and have powerful data from the 1.5 million
thermometers in use around the country. In
March, our data clearly showed that several
geographies were experiencing unusually
high levels of illness above and beyond
what we'd normally expect from cold and flu
season. We felt we had a moral imperative
to share this information so that leaders and
communities could take action to stop the
spread and save both lives and livelihoods.
Q With COVID-19 cases not slowing down

and flu season coming, what are some of
the challenges ahead for digital health
companies?
A The reality is that we will see coinfections
of COVID-19 alongside the seasonal flu,

common cold and other illnesses. In the
big picture, that unfortunately means things
will likely get worse before they get better.
But the good news is that digital tools are
making it easier for people to get the care
and treatment they need at home whenever
possible, instead of traveling to busy health
centers and exposing others at work, school
or in the community. We are more prepared
to take actions that keep people at home
when they're contagious and protect
our communities.

Q A big concern now is sending children

back to school. How does the Kinsa for
Schools program address that problem?
A We've created an early warning system
for schools that empowers leaders, teachers and parents to understand how illness
is occurring on a grade by grade level and
make smarter decisions. We've known this
to be true for a long time, but this year it
helps school officials answer key questions
like if and when to reopen schools, when
should social distancing policies be ramped
up, or when should we do more cleaning
and disinfecting. Real-time data makes it
possible to make the right decisions for
schools and communities.

I wish it hadn't taken a
pandemic for the
importance of digital
health tools to come
to light, but I'm
grateful that our
product's ability to
detect and respond to
outbreaks early gives
us an opportunity to
save lives.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

9/2/20 3:32 PM

https://www.kinsahealth.co/ http://cta.tech/i3

i3 - September/October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - September/October 2020