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On Tuesday the Washington County Budget Board tabled action towards getting automated temperature scanners to station at County-owned facilities.

Commissioner Mitch Antle said they tabled the agenda item because there still needs to be some research done on their end before they proceed any further with the possible purchase. He said they've received some community input which prompted further investigation on their part.

Washington County is in the process of calling to other counties in Oklahoma to see if they're utilizing devices like the Hikvision. The item was presented to the Washington County Commissioners earlier in October. The Commissioners decided to discuss the item further during this week's Budget Board meeting.

If the Budget Board decides as a whole that it would be a positive move to purchase the devices from a public safety perspective, then Commissioner Antle believes they'll engage in acquiring the technology. Commissioner Antle said there is just some concerns including pricing. He said some devices run for $400 a piece while others run for $15,000.

The problem with all of them is that they only read surface temperatures of people entering at a certain point of ingress. For example, if you were to immediately walk into a building after being outside and the device reads your temperature, you'll get the surface temperature of whatever is going on outside. On a cold day, the device may read your surface temperature as cold if you just walk into the building. The same is true for a summer day. If you walk in and the device immediately takes your temperature, it may read your surface temperature as being rather hot.

Commissioner Antle said the biggest concern that Washington County has at this point is that they want to check everyone that comes into the County's Jail Facility in Bartlesville. He said that is their largest area of possible infections for any infectious disease, and the County wants to make sure that that check point is done thoroughly. Regardless of whether they put a surface temperature reader in the jail or not, Commissioner Antle said there will continue to be deeper checks once you get into the facility.

At this point the automated temperature scanners are not a necessity in Commissioner Antle's eyes. He said it is a technology that they'll see continue to develop. Should the need arise for such a device, Commissioner Antle said he believes the common consensus is that it could be a positive thing to have.

If there wasn't a pandemic, Commissioner Antle doesn't believe that they would even be looking at this item. Commissioner Antle said this is all part of an infectious disease protocol. He said this particular pandemic has birthed at the County level of government the need to have some mechanism in place to respond to an infectious disease.

Commissioner Antle said the medical community has preached to them for decades about the flu. He said they've always taken mitigation efforts to handle the flu, but it's nowhere close to the extent in which they're responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Again, if it weren't for the coronavirus pandemic, Commissioner Antle said they wouldn't be looking in the direction of possibly purchasing automated temperature scanners.