While the thermal detection cameras were part of a niche industry before the pandemic, suppliers have been overwhelmed with the market lately. The demand for fever detection cameras have been rising steeply and can cross more than $6 billion in 2020. Even though fever detection cameras were also used for the detection of SARS, H1N1, and Ebola, the current demand surpasses the combined requirement for all three of them.
Every business all over the world is observing several protocols to ensure the safety of their employees and customers while they reopen their doors for business. Some of these measures are ensuring social distancing, strict sanitization protocols, and limiting the capacity of service.
However, businesses are aware that these measures may not prove adequate to ensure effective prevention of the disease, especially factories, institutes, and officers with a large workforce. Therefore, these businesses recognize the need for a technological solution that can identify a person with signs of infection even before he or she enters the business premises.
Even though most institutions use contactless thermometers to screen people, the process is extremely slow. Moreover, it is not a feasible option for places with a large number of people. Fever detection cameras provide the most feasible solution to this problem. Nor only can they identify a person who is running a fever, these cameras can also scan multiple numbers of people together.
That is why airports and train stations were the first to install thermal cameras to isolate people who could be infected with the COVID-19 virus. Amazon was one of the first private businesses to install fever detection cameras at its business premises. More and more companies are following suit and installing thermal cameras as a fever detection solution for the prevention of COVID-19 infection at the work premises.
Thermal imaging has been a part of monitoring business premises since long before the pandemic started. CCTV cameras with thermal imaging were used for surveillance by several industries at their business and storage premises. These cameras can pick up the heat radiated by a trespasser’s body to alert the security. Thermal imaging is especially useful when there was limited or no light in the area that needed monitoring.
With the spread of the pandemic, the need for updated security measures became quite evident. So the security industry quickly started developing the thermal imaging capabilities of CCTV cameras so that they could detect any signs of elevated body temperatures.
Fever detention cameras often have two sensors. The visual sensor presents the image, while the thermal sensor has been calibrated so that it can detect a range of temperatures by identifying the infrared radiation emitted from anybody. Thermal sensors will highlight any individual whose body heat is equal to or higher than 100.4°F (38°C) since that is considered by CDC experts as the minimal body temperature to get classified as fever. These sensors also maintain their accuracy over a range of factors, such as environmental changes or thermal drifts.
There are three types of fever detection cameras available in the market. The first type is a handheld device that is used to scan individuals. However, one needs to stand close to scan another individual, which means the person who is screening needs to wear Personal Protective Equipment.
The second type is a self-service kiosk, where a person can stand in front of the camera and get scanned. But the downside of this technology is that it is less accurate than the other types since the scan can get affected by thermal drifts.
The third type is fever detection cameras with dual sensors and blackbody temperature calibration. It is the most accurate system, and it can scan several people from a distance at the same time.
Even though fever detection cameras are getting used in most developed countries since the start of the pandemic, American businesses and institutions have been slow to adopt thermal imaging for screening people. Indeed, these cameras are not an absolute solution when it comes to detecting people with Covid-19 infection.
First of all, thermal cameras detect the surface temperature on the skin of a human being and not their internal temperature. It means a person can show up as hot on the thermal scan but may not be running a fever. He or she was probably out in the sun for some time.
According to the CDC, not every person infected with the Covid-19 virus will have a fever as soon as he or she contacts the virus. Some people may develop a fever up to fourteen days after getting infected, while some may not show any symptoms at all. However, the FDA has classified thermal cameras as medical devices while they get used for the detection of the infection.
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