How Smart Glasses Can Help Protect Society’s Most Vulnerable

Tech needed to protect elderly, immunocompromised

COVID-19 does not discriminate. Luckily, most carriers of the disease survive. While the world waits for a vaccine, the lives of those most at risk – the elderly – can be improved by smart glasses.

READ: Why COVID-19 could bring you closer to owning a pair of smart glasses

Across the world, families have been forced to avoid contact with their elderly relatives. This means grandparents are reduced to communicating through video and voice chats. Such isolation has caused anxiety and depression to spike amongst the elderly. 

Luckily, modern communication technologies help bridge the gap. As a result, many senior citizens handle smartphones for the first time, exposing them to the digital world.

Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses enable caregivers to remotely communicate by broadcasting a patient’s wound to an off-site doctor for diagnosis.

Next best thing to leaving the house

These tools will continue to play a major role in protecting the elderly and immunocompromised, both in long-term care facilities and at home. Even after the lockdown, society’s most vulnerable must be careful when leaving their homes.

Fortunately, smart glasses can make the wait for a vaccine much safer and pleasant:

1. Health checkups with telemedicine: With smart glasses, there’s no need for the elderly to visit the doctor’s office. Something wrong? Anyone in personal protective equipment (PPE) can examine a patient by receiving guidance from an off-site expert – hands-free. 
2. Fever detection: Eventually, smart glass lenses will allow users to verify carriers of COVID-19 using infrared thermography. Goodbye, uncertainty. 
3. Grocery shopping: Forget lists. Shoppers can stream their first-person point-of-view to those at home, ensuring everyone gets exactly what they want. 
4. Virtual nature walks: In times like these, the great outdoors is more important than ever. For those who can’t leave the house, they can virtually join in on outings as friends or family members stream their journey.
5. Video chat – no hands required: Forget sitting at your laptop or holding a smartphone to your face: Skype and Zoom are now available on Vuzix smart glasses!

Smart glasses in the COVID-19 era and beyond

The 2020 lockdown focuses on protecting our physical well-being. However, these measures do little to preserve our mental health.

COVID-19 has brought many seniors into the digital age. Out of necessity, this generation has learned to use apps like Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.

Similarly, immunocompromised lean on the technology to stay connected. 

Could smart glasses make the wait for a vaccine less agonizing? 

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