AwardBee

You can have a low grade fever (up to about 39 C or 102.2 F) in any number of conditions that aren't contagious and don't represent health risks to yourself or others in the context of flying. Examples include lupus, arthritis, thyroid problems, cancer, urinary tract infection and even stress.

An accurate thermometer might be a very sensitive but not specific test for untreated Covid-19 symptoms. Untreated because in most cases of infectious causes of fever, most over the counter analgesia (aspirin, Advil, Tylenol, naproxen) will lower your fever. But most healthcare workers will tell you that the problem with the handheld "gun" style thermometers is they are not very accurate - the best style of thermometer would be placed under the tongue, or in the rectum in infants/very young children. The way thermometer guns are calibrated, if you hold it too close you might get an inaccurately high reading, and if too far away, too low a reading. While traveling in Asia I've been told my temp is in the 35-36 C range using a gun-style thermometer, which is quite low and almost borderline hypothermic, likely due to poor measurement technique or a poorly calibrated thermometer.

I'm not saying that taking passenger temps has no value, just that the interpretation of an elevated temperature (especially if mild), and the accurate taking of a temperature, is probably beyond what can be expected of a gate agent at the time of boarding a flight. It's more useful for screening if someone has a moderate/high fever (>39 C or 102 F), although someone with a temp that high often feels like crap to the point where they're using analgesia and may also generally look quite sick.

Adam Smith

AwardBee , great post

As ​​​Bohemian1 pointed out upthread (or in some other thread), one can also get hot from running to a gate. I can also think of many airports with poor temperature control or no air conditioning. Is it reasonable to deny someone boarding because they had to sprint to make a tight connection, or because the airport is poorly ventilated?

canadiancow

They most certainly are not. The carry-on limits are the same in all cabins.

codfather

I've heard from a few different people that the masks AC hands out are itchy and uncomfortable. Perhaps the government is giving AC the faulty masks instead of sending them back to the manufacturer? Lol

Fiordland

T&T Markets (which is a division of Loblaws) was doing the temperature screening of shoppers. They stop after discovered that at some stores when it was hot outside and they had a lineup there were turning away a good percentage of people not because they were sick but because it was hot outside.

If you have a high temperature there are any number of over the counter medications you can take that will artificially bring your temperature down. So your not going to catch people who are sick with this test. What is the point.

canadiancow

Agreed.

Does that actually increase body temperature?

I didn't take biology in high school, certainly not in university, so I know nothing about this.

Adam Smith

Doesn't it? Do you not get got when running, or standing around in a very hot place?

Paging AwardBee for a more precise answer, but Fiordland 's example certainly suggests it does.

canadiancow

I feel hot while exercising, but I don't know whether that's "body temperature" or something else. Like when I say I have no idea how this stuff works, I mean it. None of my questions are rhetorical.

Adam Smith

My wife the nurse confirmed it's the case. Running, hot air, whatever, yes, that increases your temperature as would be measured by the gun.

In addition to the ones discussed above, she said there are plenty of other issues with the guns. If the batteries are low, it will likely lead to too low a reading. Some people also have temporal arteries that are deeper than others, which would lead to lower temperature readings.

So, pretty useless.

AwardBee

You certainly can get a bit of a fever with heavy exertion, especially when it's warm - running to the gate in a coat or suit can do that. People have shown up to the hospital with temperatures over 40 C after exertion outdoors in the summer, i.e. heat stroke.

All the more reason I'm concerned that AC set their temperature screening threshold at 37.5 C - the main saving grace being that gun-style thermometers tend to more often underestimate temperature due to the operator holding it too far from the skin (my anecdotal experience), so there's some built in protection from someone with an actual temp of say 37.8 C from being denied boarding.

flyquiet

In the interest of science, I did an experiment. Apparatus: Fitness level of one prior run of any length in the past 3 months. Sample size: N=1. Method: Measure forehead temperature pre and post, using Braun BNT400 (consumer grade) optical handheld thermometer at approximate distance of 1cm (mean manufacturer's recommended distance of 0 - 2 cm). Run 5k in 35C humidex (29C dry bulb), overcast skies. Results: Pre-run optical forehead temperature 36.4. Post-run optical forehead temperature was 37.0C. It certainly feels hot, but I could board an airplane in this condition.

canadiancow

#science

FlY2XS

Sweating is your body's response to high heat. Everyone knows that an intense workout makes you sweat. That happens because the energy you are burning creates heat. Running to a gate depending on your fitness level could certainly put you over normal. Temperature rise with exertion in high level athletes is a very prolific field of study. Less so the average out of shape gate sprinter, but I'd bet the farm they overheat real fast.

CZAMFlyer

The reading of my temperature as I entered the security screening line the other day prompted a remark: "you are one cool customer". I asked what the display read, the reply as "34 degrees". When I asked what the normal range should be, the AC-uniformed screener replied that she didn't know. This suggests a few possibilities: the device used rendered an inaccurate reading, the distance between gun and forehead was excessive, I'd just been submerged in icewater and/or the AC employee administering the test hadn't been adequately trained on the procedure. Any one of these, if true, reinforces the option that this step is unnecessary, ineffective and a waste of time & resources.

mileageking

Or that you are indeed one cool customer