Anyone an APP builder? Design an APP in the phones that take temperatures

[demtenjeep]

It would be a HIT

[cayugafalls]

1. Phones would need infrared to be able to do that.

Not sure of any that have that capability right now.

It would be cool though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Temperature screening for covid19 is almost useless.

As logical as mass temperature checks may seem, the practice hasn’t clearly been shown to help contain the coronavirus. The practice is sort of like spraying down the sides of buildings, showering football players in hand sanitizer, or deep cleaning an office carpet. These things might make us feel safer, but they may not keep us safe if they actually cause us to let our guard down...

Body temperature is a vital sign that is monitored continually in hospitals, where it can be an invaluable window into how a patient is faring. But screening groups of people for the coronavirus is a different matter, and that is what’s happening now. Employers around the United States are attempting to order daily temperature checks to determine who is allowed to enter an office and do their job. As you noticed, access to courts may be based on this test. Fever screens have even been implicated in many plans to open schools: New York City’s Department of Education announced last week that kids would be randomly screened before being allowed to enter school buildings, despite the fact that kids with the virus rarely develop fevers...

Temperature checks may be useful in specific circumstances, as opposed to mass fishing expeditions. But people who are found to have a fever are likely being told what they already know. When fevers do come on, people typically already feel ill. They’re likely to also have a cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms. They should have had access to a proper test that would tell them if they had the virus. They should have been able to seek medical attention. They should have been able to isolate at home.

The real spirit of mass temperature checks, as they’re currently being used, is punitive. If, amid the many false positives and false negatives, fever screening does successfully catch a few sick people who went out anyway, then this may be a symptom of a societal ill. Feverish people are not likely venturing out because they have a death wish or want to infect others; they’re likely doing it because they can’t afford to stay home, or they need to pick up their kids, or they don’t have sick leave. The solution to this isn’t to pour more resources into infrared cameras in an attempt to detect and detain these people. It’s to put those resources into taking care of them in the first place.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/paging-dr-hamblin-temperature-checks-coronavirus/615190/

[AllaN01Bear]

3. my local hospital used to hand scan with hand scanners , now they use a infared cam

and a laptop to do that .

[Sapient Donkey]

4. As mentioned above, that would require some some hardware phones usually don't have now

Could easily create a piece of hardware that does that and interfaces to the phone. Could be done wirelessly with bluetooth or wifi, or could use the audio jack or something to communicate. I'm willing to bet that already exists. Let me go check

Here's an example
https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Non-Contact-Thermometer-Fever-Children/dp/B07XPH8D6Z

That may defeat the purpose of what you're going for, though.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Uganda and China have made a phone with a built-in infrared sensor for this

Link to tweet

[Sapient Donkey]

9. Nice. I expect we'll see more phones with these built-in sensors in the future.

I couldn't imagine it adding much more to the total cost of the phone. A few years back I built one on a breadboard for fun, and I think for all the components I paid less than $10. That included the cost of the microprocessor too.

[thinkingagain]

5. It's a cool idea

Thought of the idea also. Not sure of how it could be done. Some smart watches do it.
The one thing I’ve noticed with those temp checks. I normally have a low temp but if your in a car on a hot day and go on a place then they use one of those contactless tempature scans my tempature is higher. Plus the watch I had did also. So can we trust these tempature that are being taken?

Now I know wait like 5mins after being in the warm car.

[demtenjeep]

7. that is what we have been realizing going back to our school buildings. We teachers are back

kids not for 3 more weeks

[nuxvomica]

6. It already exists, doesn't it?

I forget what it's called but it has a thermometer that Bluetooths to the phone, and from there the data goes to a central location where they produce maps of temperature increases as a way to track COVID-19 spreads.