- Researchers monitoring nearly 100 men who tested positive for COVID-19 show that body temperature does not appear to be a reliable way to detect coronavirus infection.
- Of 84 men between the ages of 18 and 25 had only a few fevers, and even then the fever lasted only a very short time.
- The researchers say that widespread COVID-19 testing is the only way to control the spread of the virus with all certainty.
Whether it’s before you go into work every day or before you enter a local clinic for an unrelated issue, you have almost certainly checked your temperature when entering buildings recently. That, of course, is to do with the new coronavirus pandemic, and the belief is that by scanning for fever and not allowing access for anyone who does not appear well, we can prevent the spread of the disease to others.
Unfortunately, a massive (and active) age group appears to be largely immune to the feverish symptoms of COVID-19, even if they are indeed infected, rendering temperature controls useless. This can open the door to an enormous boom in cases, even if we think we are doing everything we can to prevent it.
In a new paper published in Travel medicine and infectious disease, researchers explain how body temperature monitoring of a group of nearly 100 men who tested positive for COVID-19 found that for those between the ages of 18 and 25, the search for disease using body temperature is almost useless.
The men were members of the Swiss Armed Forces and had been killed in an outbreak among soldiers. The researchers monitored their body temperature twice daily for 14 days after the men tested positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, despite a few of the men initially suffering from a fever, their temperatures returned to normal within days, and after five days had passed since their diagnosis, none of the men had fever despite being actively contagious.
Current guidelines suggest that anyone who receives a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 for about two weeks should be considered at least. This means that if these men – who were largely asymptomatic – were scanned for their body temperature by a means of screening to prevent the spread of the infection, they would appear perfectly healthy while continuing to spread it. virus.
The researchers therefore concluded that screening for body temperature at borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 between regions is largely ineffective, at least for this age group.
“We reinforce the WHO recommendation that widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2 is currently the only available efficient way to control the trajectory of infection and to control the spread of COVID-19,” the researchers write. . “Border screening is a strategy that has been pursued in the past and has proven to be both expensive and ineffective. We advocate the evaluation of new non-invasive screening approaches, such as testing saliva samples for SARS-CoV-2 with rapid follow-up on positive. “
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has appeared in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print stores. His love for reporting is second only to his gaming addiction.
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