Are Fever Detection Cameras Viable Options to Screen Students at Schools for COVID-19 Infection?
Several districts are planning to open the schools for students. While it may be essential for the education of the students, school authorities, teachers, and parents are concerned about the safety of the students. Most school authorities are considering buying the latest fever detection technologies to screen students. However, since it is a challenge to screen a multitude of students with non-contact medical thermometers, fever detection cameras seem to be the only viable option.
Although these cameras can not guarantee the detection of Covid-19 infection, they are still extremely beneficial for the prevention of the disease. So while school authorities listen to the ongoing debate, they must also be made aware of the technical aspects before they weigh in to decide against buying fever detection cameras. These are some of the essential factors that school authorities must consider while trying to make their decision.
The Technology Behind Fever Detection Devices
The two technological devices that school authorities must consider are non-contact thermometers and fever detection cameras. Non-contact thermometers can accurately detect fever, and therefore, a better means of detecting fever. However, they are not a feasible solution when a lot of people need to get scanned for the presence of three Covid-19 infections.
Fever detection cameras may not be a complete solution to detecting the infection either. The truth is, they do not detect the inner body temperature but only the outer temperature on the surface of the skin. However, they are an excellent solution when it comes to mass screening students for elevated body temperatures. Once a student gets detected with a higher body temperature than 100.4°F, the authorities can cross-check that with non-contact medical thermometers.
Thermal detection cameras use infrared technology to screen people and have been used in the security industry for decades. When the Covid-19 crisis hit, there was a growing need for mass screening people at several places like airports, train stations, schools, so on and so forth.
That is when companies like Invisible Health Technologies tweaked the existing mechanics of these cameras to meet the requirements of mass screening people. These thermal detection cameras have two sensors, one for the images and another for measuring the body temperatures of people.
When a person has a higher body temperature than 100.4°F, the thermal sensor will alert the screen with the help of warm colors or highlights. Some cameras need to get calibrated against a black body accessory provided with the device, while others can calibrate automatically. Fever detection cameras can function in all types of environmental conditions and provide accurate results to 0.1-degree celsius.
School authorities can use both medical thermometers and thermal cameras to screen the students for fever. But they must also remember that some patients do not develop fever up to fourteen days after getting infected, whereas some others may not exhibit any symptoms at all.
Factors to Keep in Mind While Selecting Fever Detection Cameras
There are several factors that school authorities must consider while selecting a fever detection camera for their premises. Several common questions may arise in the minds of the people making the decision, such as:
- How difficult would it be to operate the cameras?
- Where does the operator need to stand or sit while using the camera?
- What is the accuracy of the image?
- How many students can it screen together?
- What is the speed at which it screens the student?
The cameras vary in technology, and so do their results. There are three types of fever detection cameras.
There are handheld devices that can scan one or two people at the same time. The camera operator needs to be within a few feet of the students getting scanned. That means the person using the camera would need to wear personal protection equipment while screening the students.
Some cameras can get mounted on a stand and screen students. However, these cameras have a small screen, which means the operator will have to stay close to the camera to monitor the images.
The third and best kind of cameras can be installed anywhere and monitored with a computer screen or HDTV, which can be in a different location altogether. These cameras can scan students with elevated body temperatures up to twenty feet away, or more.
The best cameras show two videos. One is the thermal one in luminescent colors, while the other is an HD video. Any student with higher temperatures will get highlighted in both the image so that he or she can get identified and taken aside for fever evaluation with a medical thermometer.
Some cameras need students to pause for a few moments while they get scanned. But the best ones use AI technology to read the body temperatures of every person in a moving crowd as long as they pass through the camera’s field of vision. Even though the better cameras are costlier, school authorities must think of them as long term investments, since the COVID-19 seems like it is here to stay for a few years.
Schools authorities must formulate policies about the use of these cameras and ensure that these policies are transparent to the students, parents, teachers, and any other stakeholders. Since some of the fever detention cameras can read biometrics, people might be worried about privacy concerns. Therefore the schools can opt for devices where the recording option can be switched off and inform everyone about the same.