WATERTOWN, Mass., Jan. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since COVID-19 hit nearly a year ago, Exergen Corporation’s mission has been to meet unprecedented demand for an accurate thermometer. The company has accomplished this by making production of its thermometers, the #1 thermometers sold nationwide, its top priority and by opening a second, much larger, U.S. manufacturing facility, to dramatically expand its production capacity. The Exergen TemporalScanners, with accuracy backed by more than 80 peer-reviewed clinical studies, are used daily by millions of physicians and nurses in hospitals and clinics nationwide, along with millions of consumers at home. They are the only thermometers made in the United States.
At the same time, the company has launched several campaigns to educate people about why accuracy matters and to ensure that everyone has access to an Exergen temporal artery thermometer. Exergen has long been committed to supporting nurses, and never more so than during the current pandemic, when frontline nurses have been proven to be at particularly high risk. New studies prove that patient-facing nurses and their families, respectively, have a three- and two-fold increased risk of COVID-19 contraction and hospitalization. The new COVID-19 vaccines make accurate fever detection even more important because clinical trials show 5% of vaccine recipients are not protected from COVID-19, and fever is also a side effect of the vaccines. This requires accurate temperature monitoring for fever every day. According to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, nurses are among the first group of individuals to receive the vaccine, so accurate fever detection takes on even greater significance with this group.
Based on these factors, Exergen Corporation is committed to making sure that every nurse in the country has access to an Exergen TemporalScanner to monitor their health and their families’ wellbeing at home. The company is working with hospitals, hospital purchasing groups, and nursing schools to give employers the opportunity to purchase TemporalScanners for their nurses to use with their families. As vaccines are rolled out to other populations at risk of COVID-19, Exergen will continue to meet demand for its TemporalScanner thermometers.
Additional accuracy-driven programs offer consumers and professionals a trade up of their inaccurate non-contact thermometers for accurate Exergen thermometers. Non-contact thermometers have been shown to be ineffective and have been proven, through research, to miss five out of six fevers detected by Exergen temporal artery thermometers. Unlike Exergen TemporalScanners, these thermometers have not been proven accurate by peer-reviewed published clinical studies.
“Our entire mission is based on the fact that accuracy matters in healthcare. From the start of this pandemic, that imperative has driven us to great lengths – including opening a second, much larger, production facility in the Boston area – to ensure that anyone can get the only thermometer whose accuracy is backed by more than 80 peer-reviewed clinical studies,” said Francesco Pompei, Ph.D., CEO of Exergen Corporation. “Now we’re taking that to a new level by making it easy for people to trade in their inaccurate, non-contact thermometers for a rebate on an Exergen TemporalScanner. We are also incentivizing hospitals and clinics to purchase Exergen consumer models for their nurses to use at home. This helps ensure that accuracy is provided where it’s needed the most to help protect those who protect us.”
Even with COVID-19 spiking across the country, families are continuing to work and attend school, even on a part-time basis. Home screenings for fever, a primary symptom of COVID-19, have never been more critical. Research from Exergen indicates that fever screenings in the morning may be misleadingly low based on the body’s long recognized circadian rhythms. Based on this data, people should be taking their temperatures both in the morning before leaving home and at the end of the day, around dinnertime, to have an accurate understanding of whether or not they have a fever and make the decision to stay home.
The company has launched a Twice Daily educational campaign, including an informative video to communicate why taking your temperature twice daily should be the new normal, just like wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. The company has also developed other educational materials, which can be found, along with more than 80 peer-reviewed clinical studies that support Exergen’s accuracy at www.exergen.com.
ABOUT EXERGEN CORPORATION
Exergen manufactures and markets two series of the TemporalScanner thermometer: a professional version for hospitals and clinics, and a consumer version sold in major retailers nationwide. More than two billion temperatures are taken each year with TemporalScanners. Used in thousands of hospitals and clinics across the country as well as in millions of homes, TemporalScanners are the #1 preference of pediatricians, #1 preference of nurses and #1 selling retail thermometer. The Exergen TemporalScanner’s accuracy is supported by more than 80 peer-reviewed published studies covering all ages from preterm infants to geriatrics and all care areas from hospitals to homes. For additional information, visit www.exergen.com.
Sarah Ciuba
Rosica Public Relations
sarah@rosica.com
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