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Caffe Aldo Lamberti in Cherry Hill takes customers’ temperatures with a thermal camera

It is a screening tool to identify people who may be infected with the coronavirus. Fever is one symptom of COVID-19.

Rosita Lamberti is seen in a video monitor at Caffe Aldo Lamberti, her family's restaurant in Cherry Hill. Her body temperature, taken y a thermal camera, is shown. The restaurant red-flags body temperatures over 99.5 degrees.
Rosita Lamberti is seen in a video monitor at Caffe Aldo Lamberti, her family's restaurant in Cherry Hill. Her body temperature, taken y a thermal camera, is shown. The restaurant red-flags body temperatures over 99.5 degrees.Read moreMICHAEL KLEIN / Staff
    by Michael Klein
    Updated 
    Published 

You might not wish to take a hot date to Caffe Aldo Lamberti, the landmark Italian restaurant in Cherry Hill.

Lamberti’s, which like other restaurants has stepped up health and safety practices during the pandemic, has added a thermal-imaging camera at the front entrance as a screening tool to identify people who may be infected with the coronavirus. Fever is one symptom of COVID-19, though people can be virus carriers and not have one.

Everyone at the restaurant, including staff, must be scanned, even if the person is headed to an outdoor table, said Rosita Lamberti, a manager and a daughter of owner Aldo Lamberti.

The process takes only a second, and there’s no contact whatsoever. Patrons walk inside the restaurant and pause next to a hand sanitizer dispenser in front of the host stand, where the camera is positioned on a shelf about 10 feet away.

The camera can scan several people at once, displaying their body temperature to the host in a graphic on the screen of a monitor nearby. Lamberti said anyone showing a temperature of 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit will be screened again. If the temperature is still high, the restaurant may ask the person to leave.

Lamberti said the system, set up by Fortress Protection of Cherry Hill, cost more than $20,000.

The idea, said Lamberti, is to give customers peace of mind.