Cameras In City Hall, Peachtree Corners

Press release from the City of Peachtree Corners:

01/22/2021

Everyone is aware of the rising rates of hospitalizations and deaths caused by COVID-19. No one could have ever imagined just 11 months ago that the pandemic would have taken over 400,000 fellow Americans in such a short time. Everyone is also aware that the vaccine roll out has been slow. Currently people age 65 and over are first in line to be able to receive the vaccine, but the supply has not kept up with demand. In recognition of the fact that this pandemic will not be over soon, state and county public health officials have requested cities take whatever additional steps possible to remind and encourage its residents to follow the CDC’s guidelines.

So, in keeping with the mission of Curiosity Lab which is to be a public test site for emerging technologies, the city agreed to work with an Israeli company to test a new COVID-19 monitoring system. The company installed their new technology, at no cost to the city, on the existing camera system in the lobby of city hall to test its ability to recognize if persons entering the building were wearing a mask and if they were standing too close to one another for an extended period of time.

This technology is only being tested on two cameras at city hall and has safeguards in place to ensure that no facial recognition can occur. The testing includes sending alerts to a dashboard for the sole purpose of validating whether the technology is accurately identifying the social distancing and mask wearing protocols it was designed to identify.

While the city has no plans to deploy this software on any other cameras outside of city hall, we believe this technology could at least help encourage responsible public health behavior in one public facility and assist in maintaining important public safety protocols as we work to slow the spread of the virus.

Our hope is that in the not too distant future, we will be able to take down the “Wear Your Mask” signs and return to a life free of COVID-19.

This press release was produced by the City of Peachtree Corners. The views expressed here are the author’s own.