ABSTRACT
Objectives: Belgium enacted a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pass - the 'COVID Safe Ticket' (CST) - in October 2021. This study aimed to understand the expectations and reasons given by those supporting this policy measure. Methods: This mixed methods study was based on a voluntary online survey among 9444 French-speaking residents in Belgium. Results: Most respondents were not very supportive of the CST, with only 617 respondents (7%) being pro-CST. Compared with other respondents, the pro-CST sample comprised more males, older people, people scared of COVID-19, people who had confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines, and highly educated people. A qualitative analysis was undertaken to identify the reasons why respondents supported the CST. Two lines of argument were related to personal comfort (individual protection and means of 'recovering freedom'), and two other lines were related to collective protection (controlling the pandemic and incentivizing vaccination). Pro-CST respondents also indicated some limitations of the CST. Conclusions: The expectations regarding the CST were high, diverse and not entirely rational. Some contradictions and frustration emerged from the respondents' comments. The CST may have exacerbated the social divide in society. The high expectations risk leading to comparably high levels of disappointment, resulting in potential distrust towards future public health interventions.
ABSTRACT
High temperature can be a symptom of various critical and semi-critical diseases. In the present COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for non contact based body temperature measurement devices are quite high. However, such devices are not only costlier than their contact based counterparts, but also their accuracy greatly depends on the distance and the location of the subject from the sensor (usually within 2–4 cm). To increase the accuracy of the measurement, researchers usually couple an ultrasonic sensor that can measure the distance of the object and instruct the sensor to take the reading only when the object is within the acceptable distance. However, the measurement of distance by the ultrasonic sensor depends on various aspects such as the impurities (such as sweat), location of the measurement area (forehead, hand etc.)and the initial distance. To overcome these limitations, the present work designed a low cost working prototype based on Arduino together with MLX90614ESF infrared temperature sensor and HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor with an automatic distance correction mechanism for improved accuracy in temperature measurement. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.