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Coronavirus Fight: Thermal Imaging Cameras In Demand For Fever Detection

BOSTON (CBS) -- As states consider the best way to reopen the economy, a technology that has been around for years is in high demand for detecting fevers. Thermal imaging cameras could help identify people who have the coronavirus.

One of the leading thermal camera companies is FLIR Systems, which has offices in Billerica and Nashua, New Hampshire. Paul, a director at the company, said the cameras show skin temperatures, and have been used to screen passengers in airports overseas for years.

"If you flew through an airport in South Korea a month ago or six months ago or a year ago, you still walked by a camera looking at elevated skin temperatures," he said.

Emirates Airlines began additional screening of U.S. passengers last month. Thermal imaging does not diagnose coronavirus, but if it detects a fever, that person undergoes more testing.

These cameras have been used during outbreaks of SARS, H1N1 and the ebola virus. FLIR is now getting orders for cameras from hospitals, schools, factories and stores.

The company is even using its cameras to screen its own employees. Though there are questions about privacy, FLIR says you don't see the image that clearly, you mostly see the temperature.

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