SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) workplace temperature screening: Seasonal concerns for thermal detection in northern regions

Abstract

Workplace temperature screening has become standard practice during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The objective was to determine the consistency of four temperature devices during exposure to simulated and actual environmental conditions reflective of a workplace. An infrared (IR) digital thermometer (accuracy( A )±0.2), IR laser thermometer ( A ±1), and thermal imaging camera ( A ±0.3) were used to measure forehead and tympanic (digital only) temperatures. The first experiment was conducted in a controlled simulated environment (-20 to 20 º C) with three participants (32-YOF, 27-YOM, 20-YOF). The second experiment used actual outdoor conditions (-0.48 to 45.6 º C) with two participants (32-YOF, 27-YOM). The tympanic measurement was the least impacted by environmental temperature (mean(±SD)): simulated (36.8(±0.18) º C) and actual (36.9(±0.16) º C). The thermal imaging camera had the lowest RMSE values (0.81-0.97 º C), with outdoor temperatures ranging from 0-45 º C. Environmental temperature influenced forehead temperature readings and required a resting period in a thermoneutral environment (5-9 minutes (-20 to -10 º C) to immediate (15-20 º C)).

Clinical accuracy and agreement between tympanic and forehead body temperature measurements for screening of patients with COVID‐19

“…The infrared non-contact thermometer readings predict core temperatures and may differ based on atmospheric temperature that can be affected by the surroundings (Onubogu et al, 2021). Also environmental conditions, including combinations of air temperature, radiant temperature, humidity and air velocity, can influence non-contact forehead infrared digital thermometer accuracy (Goggins et al, 2022).…”

Pilot Influenza Syndromic Surveillance System Based on Absenteeism and Temperature in China: Development and Usability Study

“…As face recognition and infrared temperature measurement were almost synchronized, the completeness of temperature was adequate, but its accuracy needs to be improved. The accuracy of thermal imaging is affected by the instrument, environment, and individual factors [29][30][31]. In this study, only the temperature of school B met the monitoring requirements.…”

“…First, the alternative method of manually collecting absenteeism data explored in previous studies has produced a large amount of erroneous data [14]. Simultaneously, although infrared temperature measurement technology is widely used in the screening of suspected cases of infectious diseases in the population [28], instruments as well as environmental and individual factors can easily interfere with its accuracy [29][30][31]. Therefore, the completeness and accuracy of the collected data need to be verified.…”

Distanciamiento físico y uso de máscaras faciales durante la actividad física escolar en pandemia covid-19: una breve comunicación

“…No obstante, es pertinente señalar que en el caso del tamizaje (medición para establecer la presencia o no de una enfermedad) de la temperatura corporal para la detección del SARS-CoV-2 la evidencia es controversial. Esto debido a la falta de sensibilidad (capacidad de obtener correctamente una condición en particular) y la especificidad (capacidad de detectar la condición evaluada) y la carencia de confiabilidad y validez de los métodos usualmente utilizados (p.ej., medición de la temperatura corporal mediante la arteria temporal o temperatura de la frente) (Aragón-Vargas, 2020;Goggins, Tetzlaff, Young, y Godwin, 2021). Además, no todos los contagiados por SARS-CoV-2 presentan fiebre (Aragón-Vargas, 2020;Goggins et al, 2021).…”