Alarm.com announced a new device for anyone concerned about visitors picking up COVID-19, of all things, from their doorbell. Instead of using a button, the Touchless Video Doorbell is designed to sound when your camera detects visitors standing on the doormat. Alarm.com says that this is the “first commercially available video doorbell that rings without requiring any contact” and that its goal is “to reduce public health risks and make home visits and deliveries safer for everyone”.
In what appears to be an admission that this is a very confused way to ring the bell, there are instructions on how to ring the device printed on the front. Alarm.com is also selling a doormat accessory for the doorbell, which instructs visitors on where to stay so that the doorbell can see them correctly. Given the perplexity of most delivery drivers with the Yale smart delivery box, there is a chance that this ringing bell could create similar confusion.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22227215/VDB770_doorbell_090220_touchless_cover_03.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22227217/Video_Doorbell_Product_Image2.jpg)
When the Alarm.com bell detects a person, it rings a bell in the house, sends a notification to your phone and starts recording a video clip. You can see and speak to visitors through the doorbell and it also integrates with the rest of a home’s Alarm.com smart home security system, so you can trigger other devices, such as lights, when a person is detected. Its camera is 1080p HDR and is also equipped with infrared night vision.
It is admirable that the main people to benefit from a ringing bell are the delivery drivers who have become vital to people who avoid leaving their homes. But it is not clear how much a ringing bell could really help.
The most recent advice from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is that surface transmission (such as touching a bell contaminated with the virus and then touching your face) “is not considered a common way dissemination of COVID-19 ”. Instead, COVID-19 is believed to transmit from person to person more often when they are in close contact with each other, which you don’t need a smart ringing bell to avoid.
The Alarm.com ringtone video bell is now available through the company’s network of installation partners. When questioned, the company declined to comment on exactly how much the system costs, but said the bell itself costs “less than $ 200”.