“Security Theatre”

With Universities and varying schools reopening, daily health screenings have become akin to a life raft in an uncertain sea. Oklahoma Baptist University is no exception to the rest with screenings in the Geiger Center, Bailey Business and the Recreation and Wellness Center. At each of these stations, one to two students ask the routine questions, “Have you been out of the state in the last 14 days? Have you been in close contact with someone or have you tested positive for COVID-19?” and then it ends with a temperature check. Each of these screening stations is meant to help protect the 1600 plus students and faculty on OBU’s campus. Screenings have become integral to schools reopening and so has a need for people to work these screening booths. Nurses have been on the front lines of the virus since day one, and the Nursing students at OBU are now seeing a small piece of what their future career looks like.

Hannah Daniels is a Senior Nursing major at OBU who was willing to speak about her first-hand experience managing a screening booth. At first glance, it seems that every student who is a “screener” is a Nursing student but that is not true.

“I know some people they are doing it as an on-campus job… for nursing students, it is a part of your clinical [it is] two days [a week from] 7:30 a.m - 3:30 p.m.” Nursing students came back to school knowing that things would be different but no one could have expected it to be this different.

“[Nursing students] found [out that we would be screening] during the first week of school during orientation. [It’s] what they decided to do for our clinical. We couldn’t go to all those [previous] places so the nursing staff partnered with human resources to figure [it out]. ” The Nursing program has had to adapt their entire program and there clinicals are no exemption, but OBU did not just send them in blind.

“It was a pretty simple training. [They] taught us how to use the system and equipment. The nursing students had to do a course online called the COVID-19 [tracker]. We got the information from HR and the faculty.” With Human Resources and Nursing faculty coming together to help their students complete all of their clinical hours, nursing students are now on the front lines of daily screenings.

“I think it’s nice to have other students your age doing the screenings. It makes it feel a little less awkward. We’re all in this together.” Daniels will be fulfilling more clinical hours throughout this semester, continually being willing to put herself in a position to help protect public safety. Screenings have been used as a life raft, but some think that this life raft is risky.

Dr. Hamblin, from Paging Dr. Hamblin with The Atlantic, gives an antithesis to the debate; even going as far as to say that temperature checks are equivalent to “security theatre”.

Hamblin states, “As logical as mass temperature checks may seem, the practice hasn’t clearly been shown to help contain the coronavirus.” He makes a point to emphasize that “screening tests often backfire.” This is in stark contrast to the praise health screenings have been given in regards to keeping this unpredictable virus semi-understandable.

“An elevated body temperature can be caused by many factors other than COVID-19—or illness at all. Some people will see an elevation after exercise or during anxiety… I still couldn’t comfortably say you aren’t spreading the virus.” Hamblin gives ample reason for his critique of the choice to implement daily health screenings in buildings all over the United States, but he does not stop there.

“The solution to [COVID-19 testing] isn’t to pour more resources into infrared cameras in an attempt to detect and detain these people. It’s to put those resources into taking care of them in the first place.” In Hamblin’s opinion, it is faulty to hold much weight in temperature checks, and instead, health providers should be focused on healing before focusing on getting back to normalcy.

To check or not to check that is the question. OBU is telling its students that daily health screenings are vital to keeping our students and faculty safe and on-campus. While Hamblin makes points to say that health screenings are just functioning as “security theatre” in a continually changing global pandemic. OBU’s semester is well underway and only time will tell if daily health screenings are helping or harming the OBU community.