Thread by @bopinion

Suddenly thermometers are everywhere:

📝College classes
💸NYSE trading floor
🤳Apple stores

Temperature checks seem to be the latest solution to the how-to-open-in-a-pandemic problem. But are they actually worth the hassle? trib.al/lyka2kE

🌡️ Constant temperature-taking might turn out to be mainly security theater – that is, an effort that tries to make us feel better without regard to whether it actually makes us safer trib.al/lyka2kE

Scientists have yet to identify a specific fever pattern tied to Covid-19, and most people who are infected and have a fever will be displaying other symptoms, too.

In other words, they’ll be easy to spot trib.al/lyka2kE

Temperature screening will miss a lot of carriers:

It’s estimated that as many as 35% of all those infected with coronavirus are asymptomatic, so they likely won’t have a fever at all trib.al/lyka2kE

Studies of the relationship between fever and Covid-19 are all over the place:

🌡️One found fever is present in 82-87% of mild or moderate cases
🏥Another suggested that, of those admitted to hospitals, only 30% had a fever

We just don’t know trib.al/lyka2kE

Fevers have countless causes, many not related to infectious disease. Strenuous exercise can raise body temperature, too.

How many people will be wrongfully blocked from boarding the plane because they were briskly walking to the gate with luggage in tow? trib.al/lyka2kE

What even counts as a fever? The CDC and WHO define it as a body temperature above 100.4℉, but that’s based on research published in 1868.

Many in the medical profession disagree trib.al/lyka2kE

That 19th-century figure is based on a normal body temperature of 98.6℉.

We now know normal body temperature is closer to 97.5℉. Does that mean we ought to keep people with a 99.3℉ fever out of the shopping mall? trib.al/lyka2kE

On top of all that, our thermometers might be wrong.

Those that measure temperature in the ear tend to be more accurate than those that measure from a distance. Which doesn’t bode well for all those thermal cameras employers rushed to purchase trib.al/lyka2kE

We should also consider the potential for invasions of privacy.

The rise of automated temperature monitors that scan people from a distance might transform the workplace into a realm of constant health surveillance of employees trib.al/lyka2kE

If we really want to screen people for Covid-19 before allowing them to mingle, the loss of the sense of smell may be a stronger indicator that a person is infected.

Instead of temperature checks, maybe we need to have everybody sniff a scented candle👃🕯️ trib.al/lyka2kE