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What do thermal imaging cameras do?

Using infrared technology, thermal cameras detect radiating heat from a body – usually from the forehead – and then estimate core body temperature.

Our Temperature Screening Kiosks are a non-contact, fast and accurate solution for COVID-19 screening. These easy plug and play Temperature Screening Kiosks are biometric devices that detect and alert of an elevated temperature and other possible COVID-19 symptoms in employees, visitors, staff, students and attendees entering a facility.

They can give a reasonable measure of skin temperature, to within half a degree.

About 37C (98.6F). A high temperature is usually considered to be 38C(100.4) or over. But normal temperature can vary from person to person and change during the day. It can also fluctuate during a woman’s monthly cycle.

However, as useful and capable as this technology is, there is a lot of misinformation circulating in the news. As with the implementation of any technology, there are challenges. It is important to understand the physics involved that affect the accuracy of an optical temperature measurement, but moreover, there are many other factors to consider related to bio-physical phenomena.
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Thermal Imaging Systems and COVID-19

  • When used correctly, thermal imaging systems generally have been shown to accurately measure someone’s surface skin temperature without being physically close to the person being evaluated. Thermal imaging systems offer certain benefits in that other methods need a closer proximity or contact to measure temperature (for example, non-contact infrared thermometers or oral thermometers).
  • Temperature-based screening, such as thermal imaging, is not effective at determining if someone definitively has COVID-19 because, among other things, a person with COVID-19 may not have a fever. A diagnostic test must be performed to determine if someone has COVID-19.
  • Thermal imaging systems have not been shown to be accurate when used to take the temperature of multiple people at the same time. The accuracy of these systems depends on careful set-up and operation, as well as proper preparation of the person being evaluated.
  • Thermal imaging systems have been used by several countries during epidemics, although information about their effectiveness as part of efforts to reduce the spread of disease has been mixed.
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Benefits of Thermal Imaging Systems

  • The person who handles the thermal imaging system is not required to be physically close to the person being evaluated. In fact, the person who handles the thermal imaging system could be in a different area or room.
  • The thermal imaging system may measure surface skin temperature faster than the typical forehead or oral (mouth) thermometer that requires a close distance or physical contact with the person being evaluated.
  • Scientific studies show that, when used correctly, thermal imaging systems generally measure surface skin temperature accurately.

Positives of Temperature Scanning Terminal

What’s really nice about them is their automated interaction.

  • It’s simple voice commands. You walk up to the device, you see your face inside of a silhouette, they give you a green light or red light. Additionally they’re cost effective. In comparison to the other solutions like a mass temperature scanner. There is no physical contact needed to use our solutions.
  •  Our kiosk scanning process on one individual standing in front of the device takes approximately 3 seconds. You also need to consider that if you’ve got a large group of people entering the space, say in a school, you’re going to need to consider the walk-up time to the device.  So we actually say that the device takes approximately 8 seconds to move from one person to the next. And in that case, you can get about 350 to 400 scans per hour.
  • The SmartX Terminal can be tied to a door access control system. If you do have a vestibule, your deployment and your office could tie-in to the internal vestibule door. The intent there will be in order to even enter the space, even if you have a card access, you’ll swipe your card, you’ll get your temperature measured, and as long as you’re in the green zone, and you get a thumbs up, that door will unlock for a few seconds for you to pull the door open and enter the space.
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Proper Use of Thermal Imaging Systems

  • The person who handles the system should follow all manufacturer instructions to make sure the system is set up properly and located where it can measure surface skin temperature accurately.

  • The person who handles the system should be trained to properly prepare both the location where the system will be used, and the person being evaluated, to increase accuracy.

  • The FDA issued the Enforcement Policy for Telethermographic Systems During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency guidance to help expand the availability of thermal imaging systems and mitigate thermometer shortages during the public health emergency. The guidance sets forth an enforcement policy that is intended to apply to all thermal imaging systems that are intended for medical purposes for the duration of the public health emergency related to COVID-19, and provides recommendations regarding performance and labeling of such systems.
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