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

Measurement and Processing of Thermographic Data of Passing Persons for Epidemiological Purposes

Non-contact temperature measurement of persons during an epidemic is the most preferred measurement option because of the safety of personnel and minimal possibility of spreading infection. The use of infrared (IR) sensors to monitor building entrances for infected persons has seen a major boom between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but with questionable results. This article does not deal with the precise determination of the temperature of an individual person but focuses on the possibility of using infrared cameras for monitoring the health of the population. The aim is to use large amounts of infrared data from many locations to provide information to epidemiologists so they can have better information about potential outbreaks. This paper focuses on the long-term monitoring of the temperature of passing persons inside public buildings and the search for the most appropriate tools for this purpose and is intended as the first step towards creating a useful tool for epidemiologists. As a classical approach, the identification of persons based on their characteristic temperature values over time throughout the day is used. These results are compared with the results of a method using artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate temperature from simultaneously acquired infrared images. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed.

Relative Stability of Regional Facial and Ocular Temperature Measurements in Healthy Individuals

Purpose

Non-contact measurement of facial temperature using infrared thermography has been used for mass screening of body temperature during a pandemic. We investigated the relative stability of temperature measurement in different facial regions of healthy individuals.

Methods

Twenty healthy subjects underwent two experiments. In the first experiment, subjects washed their faces with a 20°C wet towel for 1 minute. Temperature changes compared to baseline in the forehead, cornea, inner canthus, and outer canthus were determined using an infrared camera for 10 minutes. In the second experiment, lubricating eye drops at 20°C were instilled over one eye. Temperature changes in the same regions of interest were monitored for 5 minutes.

Results

Baseline temperatures before face washing in the forehead and cornea, inner canthus, and outer canthus of the right eye were 33.4°C ± 0.8°C (mean ± SD), 33.3°C ± 0.8°C, 34.3°C ± 0.7°C, and 32.8°C ± 0.7°C, respectively. Reductions in temperature due to face washing were most significant for the forehead and least significant for the cornea. One minute after face washing, the corresponding changes were -2.8°C ± 0.6°C, -0.3°C ± 0.6°C, -0.6°C ± 0.7°C, and -0.9°C ± 0.7°C for the forehead, cornea, inner canthus, and outer canthus, respectively. After administering the eye drops, no significant temperature changes were observed.

Conclusions

When facial temperature was exogenously cooled, the cornea had the most stable temperature readings.

Translational Relevance

When using infrared thermography to screen facial temperature, the measurement of corneal temperature is probably a better representative if the stability of temperature readings is critical.

Assessment of Alternative Body Points for Temperature Screening As Precautionary Screening During the Pandemic Using Infrared Thermometry

BACKGROUND

The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which swept across the globe in a short period, demonstrated that disease transmission management is a critical step in preventing an outbreak, as is good viral infectious disease screening. Infrared thermography (IRT) has long been considered ideal for screening body temperatures during pandemics.

METHODS

Single-centre cross-sectional study with 159 participants. Using infrared thermometry, participants were subjected to temperature measurement twice daily on various sites. This was compared to oral temperature.

RESULTS

The findings of the study revealed that infrared thermometry could be utilised as a proxy approach for screening by both individuals and medical professionals when employed at the glabella, cubits, or axillae.

CONCLUSION

 Temperature screening is implied as a prophylactic method during pandemics. Owing to contact limitations, oral thermometry cannot be used for mass screening during the pandemic. Infrared thermometry is a noncontact method of temperature screening that can readily be applied for mass temperature screening in congested venues such as airports, shopping malls, places of public convenience, and other similar locations.

Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) applications in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned and considerations for methods

Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE), with the goal to support humans through system design, can contribute to responses to emergencies and crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we describe three cases presented at the 21st Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association to demonstrate how HFE has been applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely to (1) develop a mobile diagnostic testing system, (2) understand the changes within physiotherapy services, and (3) guide the transition of a perioperative pain program to telemedicine. We reflect on methodological choices and lessons learned from each case and discuss opportunities to expand the impact of HFE in responses to future emergencies. The HFE discipline should develop faster, less resource intensive but still rigorous, methods, increase available HFE expertise by growing the field, and proactively enhance individual and public perception of the importance of HFE in crisis response.

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

AIM

To investigate the accuracy, reliability and agreement between infrared forehead thermometers versus infrared tympanic thermometers temperature, a cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2020.

METHODS

The forehead and tympanic temperatures of 615 subjects were measured simultaneously in three exposed SARS-COV-2 groups at one hospital in Iran, during April 2020. These comparisons were evaluated by Bland-Altman Plot, repeatability, Passing-Bablok regression and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was done to describe the discrimination accuracy of a diagnostic test. The study adhered to STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies.

RESULTS

A Bland-Altman plot indicated that the limits of agreement between the forehead and tympanic temperature were -0.259 to +0.19°C. Passing-Bablok regression analysis illustrated that the infrared forehead was not linearly related to tympanic temperatures (reference method), with a slope estimate that was significantly different from 1.00. The infrared forehead thermometer showed poor precision and lower accuracy than the tympanic. The forehead temperature readings had 60.0% sensitivity and 44.4% specificity (p > .05) to predict disease.

CONCLUSION

According to the results of study, there is no evidence that the assessment of temperature by infrared forehead thermometer could discriminate between the two groups (positive and negative).