The 19th of November 2020, I had a rendezvous at the Montreal Heart Institute for an ECG test. The ECG test takes less than a minute to accomplish, however, to get my ECG test, it took over 10 minutes of unrelated testing and COVID-19 question answering because their infrared temperature tool kept reporting 39.6 degrees Celsius, which obviously alarmed them due to the COVID-19 era.
After multiple oral temperature check giving out an average reading of 36.4, and my attempts telling them I was fine, the only way they would let me take the ECG test is for them to take a rectal temperature. Having no choice, I told them they could do it, but that meant more waiting, as they had to go get another temperature measurement device. Once done, it displayed a temperature of 36.6, only 0.2 degrees more than my oral results. Only then, they were satisfied, albeit still completely baffled as to why my external temperature was 39.6 and internal temperatures were normal. They were in total four people discussing what to do with my case, as they have never seen such a case. Oh well!
I am no expert, I do not know why my skin was 39.6, but I do know my skin feels very hot whenever my body is exposed to the cold. This is true since I was young, I always been the type to not wear a lot of clothing during winter time, while others need many layers, I need a coat and t-shirt and I am fine. That November morning it was 0 degree Celsius, and since I had to walk quite a distance from where I parked up to the Heart Institute building, my body had the time to do the reaction. Therefore, when they took my temperature, my skin was still very hot, showing the 39.6 degrees Celsius.
Thus, all this to say, those infrared temperature tool should not be taken as a sure thing. Those tools might be accurate, and it was, as they tested it against their own skin and gave out a normal reading. But for my case, coming from a very cold outdoor, the tool did not tell the full story and they simply believed I was sick, potentially with COVID-19, as I overheard one specialist say to the other present outside my room. However, at the end, I was not sick, as my internal temperature was normal.
If you ever get your temperature checked with one of these electronic infrared temperature tool and those people says you have a fever, but you feel fine, fight their finding and demand other means of producing your temperature result. You never know, you might have a reason for the different internal and external temperatures.