Amazon scans warehouse workers for fevers using thermal cameras

Amazon is changing how it identifies sick warehouse workers.

The Jeff Bezos-owned e-commerce giant installed thermal cameras in a handful of its shipping facilities, Reuters reported. Half a dozen warehouses around Los Angeles and Seattle have been equipped with the technology, intended to streamline the process of figuring out who has a fever. Amazon previously used forehead thermometers, but this should be faster.

A thermal camera at work in Spain. Credit: David Benito / Getty Images

If a camera determines a worker is running hot, they're sent to a forehead thermometer testing station to get a more specific temperature taken. They cameras also be deployed at employee entrances to Whole Foods stores. Other grocery stores in the U.S. have tried this over the past month with their customers, but disease experts have warned that it's an imperfect solution.

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The biggest problem is arguably that a fever doesn't tell the whole story with COVID-19. It's one of the most recognizable symptoms of the illness, to be sure, but it doesn't start showing until at least a couple of days after someone has already been infected with the virus. Also of concern is the fact that a large portion of those with the coronavirus show no symptoms at all.

In other words, by the time someone walks into a warehouse with a fever, it might be too late.

Amazon has faced harsh criticism from its own workers during the pandemic. Several Amazon warehouses have at least one confirmed COVID-19 case, but Amazon has been hesitant to close these facilities. Workers at one such warehouse in New York went on strike in March. The same went for Whole Foods workers.

More safety measures are always good, but the fact that even fever-detecting cameras may not be enough demonstrates the need for widely available testing, at the very least.