Why thermal camera Workswell Medicas – How to measure body temperature accurately and avoid false alarms
20. 3. 2020
Test of minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) for thermal imaging system
27. 4. 2020Since the first outbreak of COVID19 in China, life around the world has been turned upside down by quarantine measures. What’s more, it is clear that these restrictions will last for many months, albeit in different forms. This is because they have the potential to prevent the worst from coming to pass. However, a highly disciplined and sophisticated approach is needed if the quarantine measures are to achieve their goal.
- The two phases of epidemiological measures
- Phase one
- Phase two
- Thermal cameras in the second phase
- Various notes
- References
The two phases of epidemiological measures
The role of thermal cameras in epidemic COVID19. Thanks to advanced epidemiological models, we know that effective intervention against coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, such as that already implemented in South Korea, is possible. We also know that successful interventions will happen in two phases. The graph below visualizes these phases:
phase one
If everything goes well, the strict anti-coronavirus measures currently underway in many countries around the world should last from several weeks to several months at a time. After this difficult period is over, epidemiologists expect the disease to peak, and the number of newly infected people in the population should start to fall. The first phase could even be achieved at an economically reasonable cost, and it is likely to save millions of lives. Yet the disease will continue after it peaks. That’s when a second phase of preventative measures, not quite as restrictive as the first, will be needed to prevent another outbreak. After the peak, quarantine measures will gradually relax, and more and more of our freedoms will return. However, during this phase, there is a high likelihood that the epidemic will start again. We will explain further below.
phase two
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID19) is highly contagious, and we will have to utilize all available technologies to successfully prevent the transmission of infection throughout populations. One of the main ways that technology can aid in epidemiological intervention is in the facilitation of the isolation of infected individuals, as well as those whom they may have come in contact with. This is particularly important because as people come into contact with one another other more often in this more relaxed phase, disease transmission is both faster and easier. This is the “dance” stage of tracing infected people, screening potentially infectious people, and employing contact-free temperature measurement methods. In Asian countries that have already moved on to the “dance” stage, temperature measurements are carried out more than 10 times a day.
The second phase of quarantine measures consists in effective testing, effective tracing, travel bans, effective isolation, and effective quarantine. This requires modern technology, including thermal cameras and other non-contact temperature measurement tools.
Only concerted effort across both phases will reduce death. Any technology that can help in this fight is welcome. Even small differences in the disease transmission coefficient can have enormous effects on the number of deaths and the entire economy, as there will be no need to repeat the restrictive and expensive phase of the hammer, which would reappear with the widespread re-emergence of COVID19.
thermal cameras are especially useful in the second phase
The Workswell MEDICAS infrared camera can provide critical assistance to epidemiological interventions, both in the first phase, the ‘hammer,’ and, more effectively, in the ‘dance’ phase, which lasts many months. In fact, the Workswell MEDICAS should play its most important role in the “dance” phase, where it is, perhaps paradoxically, more important to deal with every single occurrence of COVID19 because the disease can spread more easily.
The Workswell MEDICAS infrared camera is not a device that should only be used for a few weeks in the “hammer” phase. It is of primary importance in the “dance” phase, where it is critical to respond to every single occurrence of COVID19.
How long can these anti-epidemic measures last? Unfortunately, they may be around for quite some time! Looking back at the Mexican swine flu caused by the A / H1N1 influenza viruses, we find that since the first recorded occurrence in Mexico on 17 March 2009, there was a pandemic (officially announced on 11 June by the WHO) that only ended on 10 August 2010. So, the spread of a virus can last eighteen months! Even more distressing is the fact that the H1N1 virus had a much lower infectivity than the current SARS-Cov-2 virus! In Czech Republic, for example, the swine flu infected 2477 people and was associated with 102 deaths.
Thermal cameras help prevent further infections in the workplace and enhance the accurate application of COVID19 tests. The use of thermal cameras in the workplace can reduce the probability that quarantine measures will be required. In other words, they can save companies the trouble – and expense – of a weeks-long shutdown.
Thermal cameras reduce the portability rate – and hence the likelihood that quarantine measures will be required within the workplace. They can mitigate the risk of losses incurred during weeks of downtime!
Thermal cameras are a strategic element in the second phase of the epidemiological response
Various notes
Note No. 1 – Infectivity – A person infected with SARS-CoV-2 infects 2-3 people on average (although this is being studied very intensively, and figures may change with new discoveries). This is what epidemiologists call the “reproductive number”. Influenza has a reproductive number of 1.06-3.4. The Spanish flu (which killed 50-100 million people) had a reproductive number of at least 1.8. COVID-19 is estimated to have a reproductive number of 1.4-3.9. The incubation period, i.e. the time from infection to the onset of symptoms, is about five days for COVID-19, although it may take up to 14 days for the symptoms to appear.
Note No. 2 – Decrease of reproductive number – Social disavowal in Wuhan has led to a decline in the reproduction number from 2.35 to almost 1. This means that the infection ceased to spread rapidly because each infected person had infected only one other person. Without social distancing, 510,000 people would die in Britain, as would 2.2 million in the US.
References
[1] Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance
[2] 2009 flu pandemic
[3] Characteristics of and Important Lessons from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China
[4] Worldometers.com / Coronavirus Cases
[5] Epidemic Calculator