**FILE** Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C. (Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)
**FILE** Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C. (Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown D.C. opened Tuesday for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March with new high-tech protocols designed to combat the virusโ€™s spread.

Masked employees will guide visitors to a device that will take their temperatures and use facial recognition technology to check for mandatory face coverings, WRC-TV (Channel 4) reported. Visitorsโ€™ temperatures will be continuously monitored by sensors.

Greg Oโ€™Dell, CEO of Events DC, which manages the center, said the sensors perform a variety of tasks.

โ€œIt also allows us to monitor guestsโ€™ movement, so we can see if people are clustered or gathered too close and to enforce social distancing,โ€ Oโ€™Dell said, WRC reported.

Another safety measure is the deployment of a high-tech disinfectant.

This correspondent is a guest contributor to The Washington Informer.

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