Thermal Cameras That Hunt For Fevers Go Live At LAX Tuesday
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Thermal imaging cameras which can detect fevers in arriving and departing passengers will go live at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday morning.
The cameras, which will be located in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, are designed to identify people with body temperatures of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
They will be located at two locations: at the main entrance to the departure level of Tom Bradley and inside the terminal, near "select international arrivals," L.A. World Airports said in a news release.
The cameras are part of a voluntary program, the LAX Wellness Pilot Project, meaning passengers can choose to opt out of having their temperature taken and use a different pathway to move through, LAWA said.
Those who do take part and test for a fever will then undergo a second test with a handheld non-contact thermometer, LAWA reports.
Departing fliers will be advised not to travel, while arriving fliers will be referred to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff on site. However, no one will be stopped from flying even if they have a fever.
"This is not meant to catch everybody, its just another layer of protection, on top of many other layers, to try to do all we can to make sure our airports our clean, healthy and safe," LAWA Interim CEO Justin Erbacci told CBS News Monday.
The program is testing three different types of cameras made by European research company Schneider Electric to determine which one is most effective. The cameras are on loan to the airport at no cost, the airport said.
"Our ability to spot folks that are exhibiting covid symptoms, as we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, is so critical to stopping its spread," Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday. "To ensuring that people can travel safely, and that as borders reopen, that whether they're traveling in the U.S., or from and to the United States, that we can do our part to bend the curve down."
There has been a surge of coronavirus cases across the Southland in the past week. In L.A. County, there have been more than 2,000 new cases each of the past three days.
L.A. County has now recorded 85,942 coronavirus cases and 3,137 deaths from the disease.
