Sharon Regional Health System is making a major investment in safety in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. A new hi-tech system will monitor the body temperature of everyone entering the hospital property.

It's called The Dual Spectrum Body Temperature Camera System and is considered state of the art in screening technology.

"Now anybody that comes in with a fever or anything above 100.4 this box would be red, and that would prompt whoever is monitoring the system to do advanced screening," said Thomas Perry, the hospitals Director of Security.
 
Perry says this investment puts Sharon Regional ahead of the game in advanced safety measures.
"This type technology is new. We're the first health care providers in the nation to get this and we're committed to investing in technology for the safety of our staff,  patients and visitors," he said.

The camera uses facial detection to detect temperatures from a distance of 9 to 16 feet and provide reliable results. "So far this system has been very accurate, it's set up to be within 0.54 degrees," according to Perry.

The presence of a fever is one of the most common symptoms of the disease.  Perry says this same system is now being used on the federal level by FEMA and he expects to see it's use expanding.
"I see it really kicking off in health care facilities as well as schools, nursing homes, and different event centers,". 

Sharon Regional is using the camera system at two of it's entrances, one of them being the ER.