zlacker

What is the accuracy of non-contact infrared thermometers sensors in detecting high body temperatures? If you use an off the shelf cheap non-contact thermometer then your will read ~32C when you measure your forehead temperature. As far as I can tell most health non-contact thermometers work by measuring the ambient temperature and using this to calibrate the measured forehead temperature. But there seem to be many factors in play: if a worker has just come from another colder or hotter environment, the size of a workers head, ambient air speed, hair covering, where the operator aims the device...

In the best study [1] I have seen using expensive ($25,000) equipment, the sensitivity vs specificity is too low [2] to suggest that they are useful outside of environments that can tolerate high levels of false positives. To catch 90% of the people with Covid-19 you will inadvertently turn away at least 10% of your workforce as false positives.

I would be interested in seeing studies from actual workplace screenings in terms of how many workers are turned away and how many feverish workers are actually detected.

[1]https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/11/10-0703_article [2]https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/11/10-0703-f1

>>barbeg+(OP)
For the sake of safety, I think it is better to err on the side of false-positives in this situation.