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

Even if you haven’t constantly checked for fever at home, you may have been stopped to take your temperature while on the go amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many places have adopted this COVID safety measure as a way to try to prevent sick people from entering a space and infecting others. However, that might not be the best way to check for this common symptom of coronavirus, depending on how it’s done. While most people are screened using their foreheads, according to a recent study, you should actually take your temperature in two different places to more accurately detect COVID. Read on to find out which body parts give the most accurate reading and for more coronavirus safety measures, Dr Fauci says you need them at home to avoid COVID.

A study published on December 28 in Experimental physiology says that when you take your temperature readings for COVID, you should do so in two different places: your finger and your eye. The reason you need both of these measurements is because you should be measuring your deep body temperature. According to the researchers, even a 1 degree rise in deep body temperature could “indicate the onset of fever by a viral infection.”

And while there are several ways to directly measure core body temperature, they are too expensive, invasive, and time-consuming to be widely used in public places. That’s why the researchers recommend measuring two sites for the most accurate estimate of deep body temperature: a central and a peripheral. According to the study, the reason the eye is preferred to the forehead for core temperature is because it produces the highest temperature, and the same is true for the fingertips in terms of peripheral temperature. And for more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter.

The problem with measuring only the forehead is that it only measures a person’s surface temperature. And it can “fluctuate independently” from core body temperature, the researchers say.

“Using a surface temperature scanner to obtain a single surface temperature, usually the forehead, is an unreliable method of detecting fever associated with Covid-19,” study co-author Michael J. Tipton, PhD, professor at the University of Portsmouth, said in a statement. “Too many factors make skin temperature measurement a poor substitute for deep body temperature; skin temperature can change independently of deep body temperature for many reasons. Even though such a measurement reliably reflects deep body temperature, other things, like exercise, can increase deep body temperature. ”And to learn more about fever, here are the worst things you can do if you have a fever.

As we know, the coronavirus can present itself in different ways. And while a study in early February 2020 in China found fever to be the most common symptom in COVID patients, it’s possible someone has the coronavirus without having a fever. In fact, researchers in the December study said that at least 11% of coronavirus patients never have a fever, and even those who continue to have this symptom later in their illness can “be contagious for many years. days before the onset of fever ”. Therefore, a temperature check alone may not be the best indicator of COVID. And if you’re worried about getting sick, this weird symptom might be the only sign you have COVID, study finds.

If you have a fever, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the coronavirus. This is especially true when relying on a simple analysis of forehead temperature to detect a fever. As the researchers note, a person’s surface temperature can rise on their forehead due to a number of factors that may not be infection, such as “room temperature, exercise, consumption of food. ‘alcohol, food consumption, sunburn and various skin conditions’. And for more coronavirus symptoms to look out for, check out Early Signs You Have COVID, according to the Mayo Clinic.