Summerlin school has world’s only newly OK’d COVID-19 detection device

A Summerlin private school is the first in the world using a device that is capable of detecting COVID-19 through noninvasive testing, according to school officials and the device’s manufacturer.

The device, authorized by the FDA on an emergency basis Thursday, is manufactured by Tiger Tech Solutions of Miami.

It is being used by The Meadows School — and has been for months — to test athletes before practice or games. It straps to the bicep like a blood pressure cuff and then either turns red, meaning “potentially positive,” or green after 3 to 5 minutes.

The device, which costs $999 and can be reused repeatedly, works its magic by scanning a participant’s biometrics, including temperature and blood oxygen levels, in search of unique biomarkers associated with COVID-19. The company compares the technology to the facial pattern recognition programs that are used to unlock phones.

Tiger Tech CEO Harrison Wittels confirmed that The Meadows School is the only K-12 school that has been able to use the device. He lauded Head of School Jeremy Gregersen and other school officials for their enthusiasm for the technology and said he has hopes that more people will be able to use it after the FDA authorization.

“We see this as a game changer,” he said. “We see this as a way to help industries open up, for kids to get back and school and people to get back to work.”

Only a select few facilities have the device, including the Miami Rescue Mission Clinic and The Meadows School, which has been involved in testing the device since the beginning of the school year in September.

Gregersen said the device has been 100 percent effective, in that every student flagged with a red light has tested positive for COVID-19.

“It’s not supposed to be a diagnostic tool,” he said. “It’s a pre-screening device. So, it’s something that will tell us whether a student needs to go get tested. We’re trying to use it where we think kids are at higher risk.”

Student-athletes are tested every day before they practice, he said.

“This is one of the only schools in Las Vegas that has been able to stay open this entire school year,” Tiger Tech said in a news release. “It was also put on all athletes and sports therefore was able to continue internally year-round.”

Meadows has six devices, but Gregersen expects to get four more by the end of spring break.

He is hopeful that the school could continue to expand the use of the devices, potentially to the entire student body.

“That was one of our real driving motives in this, was to prove that this is something that could really help keep kids in school and could be beneficial to students around the world,” Gregerson said.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.