After reading this you won’t stroll on so complacently after an infrared thermometer is aimed at your forehead and you’re let through a COVID-19 ‘infection’ check point. Two experts, one in physiology and the other in human sciences, debunk the efficacy of thermal cameras, arguing that they’re waste of money and human resources because they measure only human surface temperature, not core body temperature – the only truly effective way to tell if somebody has a fever, even a low grade one. The argument is scientifically sound, and makes you wonder; either building managers, like most of us simply accept that thermal imaging is helping them protect their clients/patients and staff, or they’re complicit in a bit of falsely re-assuring window-dressing. Of course, alternative ways of measuring temperature, anal or oral, are the stuff satirical cartoonists thrive on and somewhat impractical, to put it mildly. Dermatologists, plastic surgeons and burns specialists definitely need to measure skin temperature to effectively practice their crafts, but infrared thermometers are not fit-for-purpose in protecting us from the coronavirus. The reasons are cogently explained below, in yet another contribution to how we deal with the realities of Covid-19. To get more news about Non-contact face thermometer, you can visit jiminate official website.

As lockdowns are lifted, procedures are being put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Along with physical distancing, hand sanitisation and wearing of masks, fever screening is increasingly being set up as a requirement before entry is allowed into hospitals, shops, workplaces and schools. But there are physiological and clinical reasons why fever screening simply won’t work.

Andrea Fuller and Duncan Mitchell explain why fever screening is unlikely to reduce the spread of the virus. Their arguments are based on an understanding of the physiology of fever, body temperature measurement, and fever prevalence in people who transmit COVID-19.

Fever is a temporary elevation of body core temperature. It is part of a defensive response to infection by a virus.

When you develop a fever, you feel cold, heat generation in your body increases (achieved by shivering) and heat loss decreases (achieved by seeking warmth, covering up and reducing the flow of warm blood to the skin). When a fever breaks, either naturally or because you have taken an antipyretic like paracetamol, you feel warm. Your reactions include increasing the flow of warm blood to the skin and sweating, which helps to bring the body’s core temperature back to normal.