Finding an Effective Thermal Scanner to Keep Retail Stores COVID-free in This Holiday Season

The year 2020 seems to have come out straight from our worst nightmare.

The fear of COVID-19 has gripped humanity like never before. We were forced to stay confined to our homes and say goodbye to our regular lives for over a month. Even now, as the world has opened up to resume economic and social activities, the virus is still reigning supreme. It has even increased the depression rate in the US and other countries too, leading to a crippling feeling that all of us may be experiencing at the moment. But what we should remember is, this is a temporary phase and only a matter of time. Soon we will be able to get back to what it was before the outbreak. 

For now, we need to keep the faith and maintain precautions to stay safe and healthy. When talking about precautions, we need it to follow protective measures whenever we are outside for work or recreation. Wearing masks, carrying sanitizers, and using screening devices in public places have become an everyday routine. We should also maintain proper hygiene and keep washing our hands to reduce the chances of infection.

But is that enough? Millions of lives are being affected by the virus. So we should always stay updated with new and improved protective measures that are being introduced to keep us safe. From common citizens to business owners, there should not be any lack of resources or practices to help humanity survive in these critical times. In fact, business owners are equally responsible for the safety of their employees and customers. They should adopt industry-standard methods to keep the working spaces clean and maintain social distancing as much as possible. 

When talking about the responsibility of business owners, one cannot help underline the need to ensure safety at the retail stores. More than 29 million people are directly employed in these stores, and 42 million more are indirectly involved in the industry. Although the pandemic may have caused a reduction in these numbers, people still work there. 

Besides encouraging responsible shopping behavior, one should also go the extra mile to upgrade protective measures according to the latest trends. With the holiday season approaching, the shop owners should be more stringent and careful with their COVID-19 safety regulations. Although online shopping will be a preference for most shoppers this year, people may still visit the brick and mortars to relive their old habits. As a responsible retailer, you should do your best to prevent them from regretting such decisions. 

How to do that? Scroll on!

Do Not Relax Protective Measures

It is not the time to relax the COVID-19 protective measures. We still do not have a vaccine, and it may take months to get one for the mass. At present, masks and social distancing are our only weapons to fight the pandemic. So, do not even think of going loose. Ask the shoppers to keep their masks on while they enter the stores and maintain a minimum of 6-feet distance from each other. In the last few months, we must have grown a habit of these norms, and it may not seem so troublesome anymore. Hence, even if one person tends to be careless, you should alert him/her instantly. Be it your employee or customer; do not hesitate to remind them of the rules and asking them to put their masks on politely. Further, all your employees should wash their hands at regular intervals, to ensure maximum protection for their colleagues and the customers. 

Install Proper Thermal Scanning Technology 

So many fever scanning devices are doing the rounds these days. As fever is one of the main symptoms of the viral infection, these devices help determine whether a person has been infected and bar his/her entrance from the stores. Thermal guns and other devices are being used since the beginning of the pandemic, but newer and better technologies are available now. The infra-red technology used in these devices helps us measure body temperature from a distance, thus reducing the chances of contact. However, what you should know is, not all these thermal scanning devices can measure temperature elevations accurately. 

Take the example of a thermal gun. The operator points it at a person’s forehead to detect temperature. But due to many factors, like sweat, makeup, hair, or head shields, the detection may not always be an accurate one. Many a time, an infected person thus gets allowed inside a retail store and increases the chances of infection. Further, if the store has central air-conditioning, the virus may spread out in all the nooks and corners. Hence, proper temperature detection is mandatory to ensure the safety of the people inside the stores. 

What can you possibly do if the thermal guns are not effective enough to measure temperatures? Well, you can opt for another, more efficient technology to improve screening. 

No worries! It is easy. While choosing a thermal scanner, you should make it a point to evaluate the same according to the following requisites:

• It doesn’t measure temperature from the forehead

   - The fist-forward technology is slowly gaining popularity over forehead screening. Any elevations in the body temperature can be detected from the skin due to the circulation of blood. When you make a fist, you can easily see the blood vessels on your hand, right? Well, your body temperature can be scanned from these blood vessels by putting your fist under a thermal scanner. It is a highly effective method compared to the forehead scanning that we have been using for so long. The fist does not sweat like the forehead and is devoid of makeup or anything else that may affect the readings. 

• It is self-servicing

   - To screen the temperature of many people at once, you need a self-servicing fever scanning device. You always need an expert to operate handheld devices like thermal guns. What happens if that person is not available at some time? There will be a long queue outside your store, which is neither convenient nor feasible. So get a self-servicing, automated device to take the readings. 

• It should have data storage facilities 

  - The retail owners operating amidst the pandemic can be held liable for unfortunate incidents of infections. You may have to prove your point by referring to the temperature readings that you took before allowing anyone inside the store. Keeping a manual record can be quite tedious for hundreds of people entering your store every day. Hence, you should opt for a thermal scanner with in-built or cloud storage facilities to store data for an indefinite time. 

• It should be authentic

   - All protective equipment for the fight against the pandemic should be bought from genuine sources to ensure high performance. It is best to go for an FDA-compliant technology, as it is the best certification one can expect in healthcare and related devices. You should also check the authenticity of the brand by looking for reviews and customer testimonials. Talk to the professionals, if needed, and do not forget to check out the FAQ section on the website of the brand. 

How Machine Sense Can Help

FeverWarn by Machine Sense is a mind-blowing thermal scanning device that makes the most of the FDA-compliant fist-forward technology. From being self-servicing and automated to storing the readings for as long as you want, it ticks all the boxes. It also offers liability coverage by keeping all the scanned temperature data and calibration logs in the local storage, as well as the cloud. You may store up to 20 million scanned data in the in-built storage for future references. 

The device detects temperature from the fists accurately with about +/- 0.9F variations. It is also locally-designed and manufactured. Hence, you may find it quite affordable than most imported thermal scanning equipment. You may integrate the USB ports at the auxiliary entrance, security gates, and doors to prevent infected people from entering the stores unknowingly. 

Of course, not all fevers are COVID-19 infections, but as we still do not have any technology to detect the virus, this is the only way. 

Check out the fever scanner and learn more about its inherent benefits!