This is where you need to take your temperature to detect COVID

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Even if you have not been continuously watching fever at home, you may have been discontinued to have your temperature taken while outside the coronavirus pandemic. Many places have adopted this COVID safety measure as a way of trying to stop sick individuals from entering a space and infecting others. However, this may not be the best way to look at this common coronavirus symptom – depending on how it is done. While most people control their forehead, according to a recent study, you actually need to take your temperature in two different places to detect COVID more accurately. Read on to find out which body parts give the most accurate reading, and for more safety measures for the coronavirus, says dr. Fauci that you need one of these at home to avoid COVID.

Mature woman with mask measuring her temperature with medical digital thermometer
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A study released on December 28 in Experimental Physiology says that when you take the temperature measurement for COVID, you have to do it in two different places: your finger and your eye. The reason you need these two measurements is because you need to measure your deep, core body temperature. According to the researchers, even an increase in deep body temperature by 1 degree can ‘indicate the onset of fever by a viral infection’.

And although there are different ways to measure body temperature directly, it is too expensive, intrusive and time consuming to be widely used in the public environment. This is why researchers recommend measuring two sites for the most accurate estimate of deep body temperature – one central and one peripheral. According to the study, the reason why the eye above the forehead is preferred for central temperature is because it produces the highest temperature, and the same is true for the fingertips in terms of peripheral temperature. And sign up for our daily newsletter for more information.

Receptionist measures the temperature of the female employee at the entrance of the office - with face mask
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The problem with measuring the forehead only is that it only measures someone’s surface temperature. And it could, according to the researchers, ‘independently vary’ from the core body temperature.

“The use of a surface temperature scanner to obtain a single surface temperature, usually the forehead, is an unreliable method of detecting the fever associated with Covid-19,” co-author studied. Michael J. Tipton, PhD, a professor at the University of Portsmouth, said in a statement. “Too many factors make the measurement of a skin temperature a poor substitute for deep body temperature; skin temperature can change independently of the deep body temperature for many reasons. Even if such a single measure would reliably reflect the deep body temperature, other things, such as exercise, it can raise body temperature. ‘And for more information on fever, these are the worst things you can do if you have a fever.

Woman with COVID cough
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As we know, the coronavirus can occur in different ways. And although an early February 2020 study from China found that fever was the most common symptom in COVID patients, it is possible that someone gets the coronavirus and does not have a fever. In fact, researchers from the December study said that at least 11 percent of coronavirus patients never have a fever, and even those who show up later in the course of the disease may be contagious a few days before the onset of fever. ”. Therefore, a temperature control alone is not the best indication of COVID. And if you’re worried about getting sick, this strange symptom may be the only sign you’ve had, study says.

A young man with a face mask who has his temperature taken by an healthcare professional during an outbreak with an infrared thermometer to see if it is coronavirus
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If you have a fever, it does not necessarily mean that you have the coronavirus. This is especially true if you only rely on a scan of the forehead temperature to detect fever. As the researchers note, someone’s surface temperature on their forehead may rise due to a number of factors that may not be contagious, such as ‘ambient temperature, exercise, alcohol consumption, food consumption, sunburn and various skin conditions’. And according to the Mayo Clinic, you may see the earliest signs you have for more coronavirus symptoms.

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