Full Article27 Jul 2020 17:05
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Thermal-imaging cameras of the kind being installed at businesses, airports and hospitals are an unreliable way of screening and give a false sense of security, researchers have said.
The cameras detect heat radiating from an individual’s skin and are designed to judge quickly whether someone is infectious. However, the results may be too variable to be useful. “They are no more than a visible tool designed to build people’s confidence in public places and airports,” Ashley Wood****, professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester, said.
Interest in the devices is soaring: Flir, the largest player in the field, recorded camera sales of $100 million in the first quarter of this year, with the devices costing $2,000 to $15,000, or higher.
Last week Transport for London announced that bus drivers in the capital were being scanned with thermal-imaging cameras. Amazon has started using the cameras to identify ill warehouse workers, and trials are under way at airports in Paris, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and London.
Derek Hill, professor of medical imaging science at University College London, is sceptical. “There are not yet thermal-imaging cameras that are CE marked as medical devices with the purpose of detecting fever,” he said. A CE mark indicates that a product conforms to EU health and safety directives.
Thermal cameras measure skin temperature to within half a degree but not core body temperature, meaning that in cool environments such as air-conditioned airports skin-surface temperatures will probably be lower.
Some insist that the purpose of thermal cameras is not to detect, but to act as an initial screening system. “People who are identified as having an elevated skin temperature can then be evaluated using additional tools or told to take a test,” said Chris Bainter, director of global business development for Flir.
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