Lakeland company creates contact-less thermometer to detect fever instantly

Lakeland City Hall just got a donation that could help stop the spread of COVID-19. Sensocon, a Lakeland-based company, just donated a new kind of thermometer called a Theroscan, which would otherwise sell for about $500.

Like a commonly used thermometer gun, Theroscan uses infrared light to read your temperature.

You put your wrist into a ring, and the gadget gives you an instantaneous reading.

If your temperature is slightly higher than normal, the machine flashes amber. If it’s in the COVID-19 range, it flashes red.

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Tony Kohl, president of Sensocon, said his invention is safer, quicker and more efficient than the gun-type thermometer.

He said the gun’s efficiency is based on it being just the right the distance between the unit and the person’s forehead. Too far away, and the reading will be off.

He also said with the Theroscan there is less chance of transmission if the person whose temperature is being taken has the coronavirus.

“You’re putting the operator of the gun at risk by putting them at close proximity to the person they’re testing,” he told FOX 13.

The Theroscan is a one-person operation, so nobody has to be nearby.

Kohl said he is selling the product to schools, churches, businesses and other places where people gather.

“We have been in talks with a couple of hospitals in the area,” he said. “Don’t know that we want to discuss who they are, but I expect we’ll be seeing more of these in the community relatively soon.”