How my Breakthrough Covid-19 Infection Showed Up In My Fitbit Data
In late July I came down with symptoms consistent with allergies, or a mild cold. I had no sore throat or loss of taste, and I’d been vaccinated for months, so I didn’t think it was Covid. But since I was planning to see friends from out of town over the weekend, I got tested on Friday morning just to be sure. It was positive.
In the midst of canceling all my plans, notifying anyone I’d seen recently, and making work arrangements for my quarantine, I checked my Fitbit app to see if there was anything unusual in what it had recorded. I wear a Fitbit Charge HR almost 24-hours a day, taking it off only to plug it in when I shower. In addition to being a step-counter, the Charge HR collects general health information using a few different sensors, and records it all in the Fitbit app on my phone. When I checked the app that day, one graph immediately jumped out: my average resting heart rate had been spiking for days.
Below I’m going to go through that heart rate graph, and the other data points of interest from the Fitbit app. But just to reassure you up front: I’m fine. One week after likely exposure, I had no obvious symptoms, and overall the infection was milder and shorter than most colds I’ve had…
