Amazon.com Inc has started to use thermal cameras at its warehouses to speed up screening for feverish workers who could be infected with the coronavirus, employees told Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, November 5, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
The use of cameras, previously unreported, shows how America’s second-biggest corporate employer is exploring methods to contain the virus’ spread without shuttering warehouses essential to its operation. Other companies that have explored using the thermal camera technology include Tyson Foods Inc and Intel Corp. The camera systems, which garnered widespread use at airports in Asia after the SARS epidemic in 2003, can cost between $5,000 and $20,000.
The company performs a second, forehead thermometer check on anyone flagged by the cameras to determine an exact temperature, one of the workers said. An international standard requires the extra check, though one camera system maker said the infrared scan is more accurate than a thermometer. Early this month, Amazon said it would offer face masks and start checking hundreds of thousands of people for fevers daily at all its U.S. and European warehouses. Associates walk up to a Plexiglas screen, and an employee on the other side scans their forehead by pointing a thermometer through a small hole.
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