It feels like temperature checks are starting to be as ubiquitous as a “Hi, how are you” almost everywhere you go these days. A couple of weeks ago, I went in for a scheduled dentist appointment. I first had to lean in, so the receptionist could take a quick temperature reading before allowing me into the rest of the office. At schools like this one in Illinois, likewise, temperature check kiosks have been set up, and if you’re flying out of LAX in the next few weeks, be prepared for Delta Airlines to take your temperature. Hotels around the country, including properties like the Four Seasons in Vail, Colorado? Same thing. You’ve got to pass a temperature check to be allowed inside.
And yet, in spite of how normalized this is starting to be, it might surprise you to hear that White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci is not exactly a fan of relying on temperature checks as a way to stop the spread of the coronavirus right now.
During a Facebook Live event associated with Walter Reed Medical Center, Fauci said temperature checks are so inaccurate that the White House has dropped them altogether, as has Fauci’s office (he’s the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).
“We have found at the NIH, that it is much, much better to just question people when they come in and save the time, because the temperatures are notoriously inaccurate, many times,” Fauci said.
For the full story, visit BGR.com.
