The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Thermal scanners installed in 3 city buildings
Officials: Devices are informational and results only known to the person scanned
MIDDLETOWN — Three cityowned buildings are now equipped with thermal scanners donated by a local technology firm, enabling state-of-the-art, contact-less information for people entering the building.
They are located in the Middletown Water & Sewer Department, 82 Berlin St.; City Hall, 245 DeKoven Drive; and the Senior & Community Center, 61 Durant Terrace.
Reality Interactive Sales Director Mitch DeBonville said he made the donation after he read a story about the three facilities being closed due to a COVID outbreak among employees. Municipal offices were closed for two weeks beginning Dec. 23. The offices reopened Jan. 4.
No members of the public were endangered by the outbreak among employees, Mayor Ben Florsheim has said. A total of 18 employees
tested positive, Elak has said.
The acting health director was contacted by DeBonville two weeks ago about the devices, which use infrared technology. The devices prompt the user to move their face within a small square, and registers results in seconds. It can also detect whether an individual is masked or not, and can scan from between 7.8 feet and 23.6 feet away, according to the company.
The temperature readings are not mandatory at this point, Elak said in a text, because the devices are still in the testing phase. The one positioned at the rear entrance to City Hall is for visitors. A second is in the process of
being installed where employees access the building, but, Elak said, “will take some coordination from our technology services and Human Resources Department.”
The formal entrance to municipal offices, on deKoven Drive, has been closed to the public during the pandemic.
In the case of an individual who chooses not to be scanned, they will be served outside the building, though that has not yet happened, Florsheim said in a text. “I don’t anticipate any issues with that happening. We had a whole contingency plan set up for serving people outside if they refused to wear a mask, but have had near 100 percent mask compliance, and I expect this will likely be the same.”
At this point, the devices, installed Monday, are informational,
and “another tool in our toolbox,” the mayor said. Currently, individuals being scanned are the only ones who know the temperature reading, he said.
“It’s not near the level of getting an actual test indicating someone has COVID,” he said.
Elak said nobody would be turned away because for now only the person knows the result of the scan. However, if the person reveals an elevated reading, a municipal employee would assist the person a sociallydistanced way.
The devices can detect an individual’s body temperature within a 0.5-degree window in seconds, according to the Reality Interactive website.
The devices are programmed in the “basic state” of just a temperature reading, DeBonville said. However, the digital devices can be configured to work even if no one is manning a particular station, such as the one at the rear entrance to City Hall, he said.
“We’re part of this community and we felt the opportunity to help out in a very obvious way for us would be to donate three units to the three departments experiencing some struggles,” DeBonville said.
They also can be programmed to send notifications for every person that walks into a particular building, but not their identifying information.
“It’s not ‘Somebody came in and their temperature is this,’ Elak said. “It’s ‘Somebody came in at this time and they scanned, and either have red or green,’” which indicates positive or negative for a fever.
A rise in temperature is one of the top indicators of a COVID-19 infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If notifications were disabled, an individual manning the front desk would be key to identifying positive results, Elak said. “It might be a surprise to some people that don’t know they have a fever.”
City Hall does not conduct COVID-19 tests on its workers, Elak said, however, “in an ideal world, we would like to.”
Instead, they are advised to visit local testing sites, such as the Community Health Center, Walgreens or CVS. “If anyone has had a known or possible exposure in their household, maybe we tell them to get a test,” he said.
The cost — $150 each — is prohibitive, the acting health director said. In the past, there have been discussions surrounding weekly staff testing, but financing them is an issue.
“It comes down to economics. Unless we are doing the tests ourselves, and hire a company to come in and do it, it can be quite costly,” Elak said.
To find local testing centers, visit middletownct.gov.