You can continue to have users scan badges daily and everything will work exactly as it has been.

Even if you don’t want to use the scan when sick functionality, you should still update your badges to the latest version of firmware, and keep your kiosk app up to date.

This new badge firmware contains a feature called a rolling memory buffer.

This stops the badge from erasing data less than 14 days old (14 days is the default look back window but is adjustable by request).

For high-interaction users:

In some situations where a user interacts with many people often, the memory on their badge may fill up before the 14 day point. However, each badge has a large memory capacity, so this is unlikely except in extreme situations.

If the badge memory of a high-interaction user fills up, the badge will flash the standard “Check Engine” light, reminding the user to scan ASAP.

If your team has this happen often, you can change from a 14 day look back window to something smaller to minimize scanning for high-interaction users.

For low-interaction users:

Someone who interacts rarely or with few people will never need to scan unless they become sick. This person could have months of data on their badge before the memory finally fills and rolls over.

If the badge is with the wearer at home, you can send them a link to the Instant-Trace™ Kiosk app and provide them the dashboard code. This can be used to scan their badge while at home, giving you access to the data you need to run the contact tracing report for that person.

If the badge is completely unavailable, the alternative is to scan all the other badges.

Collectively, they will have all the same information as the target wearer’s badge, but to obtain proper contact tracing, all the badges need to be scanned (or at least badges for persons deemed to be in proximity to the target wearer).

The scan when sick method only provides data relating to one person interacting with many others. The social distancing report requires data from many persons to show the numerous interactions. Obtaining this data requires regular scanning of all badges.

Previously, Instant-Trace™ badges needed to be scanned every ten days to reset an internal timer. With this new firmware update, this ten day scanning requirement has been eliminated, even if you elect not to implement the scan when sick method.

Because there is no new data in the dashboard, the reports will be inaccurate. Wearers will need to watch for a red “blip” flash when the battery starts to get low and contact a supervisor.

Badges must always be scanned before replacing batteries.

Yes. You should always scan a badge before changing it’s battery.