VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Before you take a seat at your favorite restaurant, you may have to get the green light from a kiosk at the front.
A restaurant in the ViBe District is currently testing a kiosk that scans your temperature with one glance.
"We want to be welcoming to everybody, but we also want to be safe," said Croc’s 19th Street Bistro co-owner Laura Wood Habr.
Croc's is the first restaurant with a thermal scanner called the DeCurtis Shield.
"It could be the way of the future of how you enter,” Wood Habr said.
So, how does this work?
Anyone ready for a scan steps up to the kiosk and stares straight into the camera. Instead of scanning the temperature from your forehead, the DeCurtis Shield is scanning from the tear duct of your eye.
DeCurtis Corporation is behind the technology’s algorithm. Vice President of Safety and Security Matt Winans said tear duct temperature readings are more accurate than anywhere on the face.
"If you are sweating, for instance, it actually lowers your skin temperature, so it could introduce false positives,” Winans said.
EVMS Family Medicine Dr. John Snellings said non-contact thermometers do work.
“The CDC has actually looked into this and they have always been shown to be relatively accurate,” Snellings said.
He said it's a big help in the medical field.
"Providing us with the quick and accurate readings that we need to see what someone's temperature is before they enter the hospital or doctor’s office,” Snellings said.
Snellings said he hadn’t heard about tear duct temperature readings before, but said taking it from that point makes sense.
Broadband Telecom wants to put the technology in businesses, both big and small.
"I'm in a room and I can say with some level of certainty -- obviously we are never going to be absolutely certain -- that at least the people around me don't actively have fevers,” said Broadband Telecom Business Director Elizabeth Tollis.
Wood Habr hopes the kiosks create peace of mind.
"Reassurance, some thinking outside the box and some technology to help navigate this and help mitigate COVID-19,” Wood Habr said. “So we can get our doors back open and people can feel welcome."
Developers couldn't give a price point. They are still in the case study phase, trying to test the kiosks at places like Croc's. They said businesses will be able to buy them outright or pay monthly. They said the product is also eligible for funding through the CARES Act.