Swine Flu: No thermal screening at Hartsfield-Jackson airport

To slow the spread of deadly swine flu, several airports in Asia and Oceania have begun funneling passengers through thermal scanners to determine if they have a fever.

As of this morning, international passengers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are not being subjected to any sort of automated scans to detect possible illness.

Tim Sushil of the Atlanta office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection says customs agents who interview incoming passengers are trained to spot obvious signs of illness.

“We rely on the judgement of Customs and Border Protection officers,” he says. Only when a passenger is showing visible signs of illness, he says, will a customs officer notify Centers For Disease Control personnel at the airport.

Just curious, why can’t we have both machines and judgement?

If it was possible to determine if someone has a fever by simply looking at them, doctors and nurses wouldn’t carry thermometers.