Bracelets help schools track temperatures

Beijing's students and teachers who have been back to campus will wear an intelligent device resembling a sports bracelet that can monitor their body temperatures and alert an app if someone has a fever as part of the capital's latest pandemic control and prevention efforts using technology.

The bands were put into use at schools in five of the city's districts－Fengtai, Dongcheng, Xicheng, Tongzhou and Daxing－on Monday when students in their final year of junior high went back to campus for in-school classes, according to the capital's education commission.

From April 30 to May 8, students in their final year of senior high in 18 schools in Fengtai first tried the bands with their teachers.

"It's easy to wear and can upload the data directly to cellphones, which is both useful and helpful," said Liu Hailian, a psychology teacher at Fengtai No 2 High School who has been wearing it for several days.

She said the bands use a small battery and don't need charging. They are free for students and teachers.

He Shiming, principal of Fengtai No 2 High School, said the bands have greatly increased the temperature-taking efficiency compared with other methods.

The bands can help the teacher who is in charge of the class to upload all the students' body temperature information at the same time via an app. The students who wear the device don't need to do anything, which has greatly saved time.

If a student's temperature rises above 37.2 degrees, the bracelet will prompt their teacher to alert school authorities.

"We recommend that students wear them 24 hours a day since they provide real-time temperature data that can be monitored by schools and parents, which has saved time on the procedures of temperature-taking, recording, summarizing and reporting," principal He said.

"It's a scientific prevention measure making use of big data," he said.

According to the municipal education commission, around 80,000 students in their final year of junior high went back to campus on May 11. Only 619 such students are not in Beijing, but they are in close communication with their teachers.

Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Monday that the students and parents should take temperatures regularly and avoid unnecessary outings.

On April 27, around 50,000 students in their final year of senior high school returned to class.