At Monday night’s Vermilion Parish School Board meeting, board members had to walk through what looked like a metal detector before entering the meeting room. It was a detector, but it was not looking for metal, it was reading the body temperature of all of the board members.
Because of COVID-19, the school district purchased at least 20 “SafeCheck” systems, which screens individuals as young as three years old.
When school begins on Aug. 27, there is expected to be a “SafeCheck” device in every school in Vermilion Parish. Everyone and anyone going into the school building, will have to walk through this device to check their temperature.
The device has a screening capability of 70 people per minute.
The way it works is that you walk through it and place your head or wrist at one of the two sensors. One sensor is five feet high, and another one is three feet high.
The person entering will place their wrist or forehead one to nine inches from the infrared sensor, then, the temperature will be displayed on the LED screen on top of the detector. If the temperature falls out of the normal range, the indicator will automatically trigger the alarms.
“The reality of American life right now, and probably well into the future, is that we are going to have to be vigilant about protecting the public from contagious conditions like COVID-19,” said a spokesperson for SafeCheck. “A rapid temperature scanner is an ideal solution for keeping people safe while avoiding inconvenience.” A fever is one of the most significant and easily detected symptoms of the COVID-19 sickness.
New Vermilion Parish Superintendent Tommy Byler (left) checks his temperature by placing his wrist in front of a sensor before entering the school board meeting room. Maintenance Supervisor Kerry Richard points to another sensor where Byler could place his forehead to check his temperature. Each school will have a “SafeCheck” like this one at the front of their school. Every student and staff will have to walk through it before going into the school building.