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| less than a minute read

Are thermal cameras going to be the new metal detector at US venues?

Is thermal testing part of the new normal, as we adopt to the post COVID-19 world? 

The US continues to look towards jurisdictions abroad for guidance, and thermal heat cameras are used in many Asian ports of entry.  This could become part of the entry process for US sports and concert venues, much like metal detectors are now - but many questions remain.  Included in this, are the basics of how refunds will work, and who gets refunds if one person in a group has an elevated temperature?  And how can venues provide adequate personnel for secondary screening?  US teams and concert operators will need to have answers to these questions, and plans for same, well before they start bringing fans back.

This continues to be a moving target, and venue operators should keep a close eye on how other jurisdictions are dealing with these issues, as they begin to operate prior to the US opening their gates.

There is also a sharp interest in deploying at sports venues thermal heat cameras — devices that take temperatures in an instant — and are widely used in Asian ports of entry like airports. Games, when they come back, might be played initially with no fans, but when they are allowed in, the old tolerance of letting through someone coughing and sick is unlikely to persist. “We’re probably going to be requiring masks and fever testing before (fans) show up,” Florida Panthers president and CEO Matthew Caldwell said last week on a Re-Open Task Force Industry Working Group teleconference.