According to Guilford County Information Services Director Hemant Desai, a new program implemented by Guilford County to remotely detect elevated temperatures in visitors to county buildings is working well and should be expanded.
This fall, as one of many efforts by the county to address the coronavirus pandemic, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of an ultra-accurate, high-tech camera system that monitors everyone entering county buildings and shows their temperature.
A high temperature isn’t a certain sign that someone has COVID-19, but it is a symptom. So, for the time being, anyone with a fever attempting to enter a county building is being told politely that they aren’t welcome.
“So far, we have asked hundreds of people to leave thanks to the cameras,” Desai said.
He said the system has been a very effective and accurate tool that’s made a big difference at places like the county’s two courthouses where a very large number of visitors frequent each weekday.
According to Hemant, there have only been a few false positives for elevated temperatures.
When does that happen? When people are coming in and holding a cup of hot coffee up to their face when the camera takes their temperature.
Desai said that the county had had a couple of instances of that type of mistake, but otherwise the cameras were working as planned.
The Dell thermal-vision camera system initially cost the county $420,000 for about 20 cameras this summer, but the county is planning on adding more cameras now. At a Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this month, county staff stated that the cameras are being put to use as overall security cameras as well as for Covid-19 detection and stated that, even after the pandemic is over, the county will benefit from having the cameras in place.
In many cases, county services now can be provided online and over the phone and staff in all departments is attempting to meet people’s needs in alternative ways given the requirement of social distancing.
I’d be interested to know what temperature is considered “elevated.” Are people being turned away at 99? What is the sensitivity of the detection device?
And I guess they’re hoping they won’t need all this expensive technology by the summer, when people who’ve walked from their cars may have a briefly elevated temperature upon entering the cool building from the hot outdoors.
What happens when someone has a court ordered appearance, but gets turned away for a so-called elevated temperature?
Are these cameras calibrated on a regular basis?
Are another 20 cameras necessary? How many buildings does the county own?
Are we going to start seeing these cameras mounted on light poles at intersections? When does this whole Big Brother charade come to a halt?
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!
Easy fix. Just run a couple of ice cubes across your forehead and neck before you enter the building. Government tyranny and medical tyranny under the smokescreen of a medical crisis are never okay…
Easier to scan the sheeple once they accept the mark of the beast. Everything is seemingly moving toward RFID technologies as well. Souls for sale in the name of convenience. Big Brother is watching, listening, lurking around every corner in every connected device, robbing you of any and all privacy. No good sumbitches will overrun everything eventually. When Uncle Sam has taken all your guns, and the world is in turmoil, a big wooden ball bat will still work wonders. You can’t fix stupid, but you can send it to hell.