If it hasnt already, some sort of temperature check may be coming to your workplace.

Since fever is one of the symptoms of COVID-19 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends temperature checks as an optional strategy to screen out employees who may be arriving to work with the virus.

These thermal scans are part of the new normal of living and working through a pandemic. You may be scanned for fever at the door of your local restaurant , in the airport , entering Disney World , or before you can get your laptop checked at the Apple Store . In many offices, plants and factories , staff are required to have their temperature taken before being allowed to work.

But does this kind of temperature check actually work at limiting the spread of this infectious disease when employees spend all today together in the workplace? Not on its own. For one thing, a large number of patients dont present with fever. Out of 5,700 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area between March and April, only 30.7% showed fever symptoms, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.