The Post-COVID Lobby Will Look Very Different

What’s the first thing you see when you enter a commercial building? The lobby. This is the room that welcomes all. It’s where visitors get their first impression of the business. An attractive and inviting lobby makes a good impression. During the COVID-19 outbreak, and in a post-pandemic world in general, attractiveness is no longer enough. Safety protocols need to be present and visible and that includes temperature scanners. Now is the time to start thinking about what your post-COVID lobby should look like.

Rethinking Post-COVID Lobby Design

Changing the traffic patterns of visitors entering and leaving the building requires thought and planning but is relatively inexpensive compared to the costs of hiring additional staff to control traffic. Other elements to consider include social distancing and limiting capacity in addition to the use of the touchless entry technologies mentioned above. If possible, using separate entry and exit points is a good plan for social distancing. 

Good lobby design makes this both easier to implement but also less expensive. While the risk of germ transfer in lobbies is high, one easy way to keep people safe is by offering touchless hand sanitizer dispensers.

There’s no doubt making changes is difficult. Many of these concepts will go into building design going forward, but failure to adapt to the post-COVID realities has consequences. Businesses have a duty to the public and failure to protect their staff and visitors puts them at risk of liability. At the very least, it’s bad business.

Thermal Temperature Scanners

SARS-CoV-2 will not be the last deadly virus to affect the health of the world population. We’ve had close calls before. This means that certain safety precautions need to be in place in the post-COVID lobby. One way to lower the risk of virus transmission is to prevent infected people from entering the building. We have grown used to getting our temperatures taken at the doctor’s office, at hair salons, and gyms. Many times this is done with a handheld device, but non-contact thermal temperature scanners offer better results faster. In short, they’re safer.

Standing kiosks at entry points process a high volume of traffic. Their visibility to visitors gives them peace of mind and assures them you take their health and wellbeing seriously. These scanners are used by schools, hotels, casinos—any public building that sees a high volume of visitors. 

The FDA recommends daily temperature screening as an effective way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Before installing thermal scanners, consider whether or not the device is FDA-compliant. You also need a thermal temperature scanner that delivers a 0.1 second response time. A detection range between 95.9° F and 107.6° F is also recommended with accuracy within  +/-0.5°F. 

Benefits of Touchless Devices to Post-COVID Lobbies

Touchless devices remain the best option for processing a lot of people in a short time. By comparison, a handheld device may take up to 13 seconds to use while a touchless device is five times faster. Of course, this reduces lines which allow for more customers and clients to access your building. For larger buildings, a volume purchase lowers the costs and ensures multiple entry points get covered.

Other benefits of these non-contact thermal scanners are they require fewer staff members to operate in the post-COVID lobby. They are also easier to clean and require less time to clean between uses. A sturdy temperature kiosk handles a high volume of people and gives off an alarm when it detects an abnormal body temperature. Mask or no mask, the device provides an accurate reading but also alerts staff when someone is not wearing a mask.

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, but the virus isn’t going anywhere. New devices emerge and existing viruses develop into new strains. This is the reality of the post-COVID world and businesses need to be proactive and adapt. Not doing so results in a loss of trust and a damaged reputation. 

How Thermal Scanners Work

Non-contact thermal scanners are easy to set up and operate in any post-COVID lobby. These all-in-one devices typically come with a few basic components of thermal sensor and tablet computer plus a power cord and stand. Visitors entering the building put their faces close to the sensor until the screen detects it and uses infrared technology to return the temperature. It takes less than half a second to detect temperatures between 95.9° F and 107.6° F.

Touchless Entry

Touchless entry is going to be a big part of the post-COVID lobby. Viruses spread when infected people touch hard surfaces such as doorknobs and door handles. This puts lobbies at high risk for virus transmission. Depending on the size of the business dozens if not hundreds of people pass through the lobby in a day. Touchless entry includes automatic door openers or access-controlled entryways.

Contact Tracing

Some businesses do contact tracing to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The Center for Disease Control recommends contract tracing as an option, but one that could be very important in the event of an outbreak. This gives building managers information on who is entering and exiting the building throughout the day. It also requires visitors and staff to sign in and out every time they arrive and leave the building. This can be done at a tablet-based kiosk placed next to the temperature scanner kiosk in the post-COVID lobby. While this information helps track the spread of the virus, some view it as a possible invasion of their medical privacy. These concerns require a high degree of professionalism and building managers must decide what is right for their situation. 

Update to a Post-COVID Lobby Today

While thermal temperature scanners keep building occupants safe other tools help as well. For example, it’s important to test for the coronavirus and to use air purification devices to remove viruses, molds, bacteria, and allergens from the air. To discuss these products as well as volume discounts on temperature scanners, call us at 727-572-4550.