3,000 thermometers distributed by Washington state may be faulty

The state is warning local jurisdictions that some thermometers, donated by the company Vulcan, don’t register temperatures above 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

The state of Washington received an email from the Skokomish Tribe on July 2, according to members of the state’s Covid-19 response. The tribe had received nearly 300 thermometers, tried units from every box, and found that the thermometers did not register above 96 degrees.

That day, the state’s emergency operations center included a notice in its daily incident reports alerting local authorities that some of infrared thermometers it had distributed were giving the wrong readings.

“If your jurisdiction received these thermometers (noted on shipping documentation as MMC287-1VULDO) and passed them on to health care facilities, please let the recipients know that this equipment may be faulty.”

The thermometers were manufactured by Guangdong Haiou Medical Apparatus Co., Ltd under the brand name Globalseagull and were donated by Seattle company, Vulcan Inc.

The company, founded by Paul and Jody Allen in the 1980s, donated 3,000 infrared thermometers to the state of Washington May 12, according to state records. The state distributed 2,957 of these thermometers to county emergency management departments, state agencies and tribes across the state, including 98 to Snohomish county, 100 to the Washington State Patrol, and 462 to Pierce County Emergency Management, according to state records.

In a statement to KUOW, Vulcan said it was “disappointed” to learn of the problems with the equipment.

“The donated thermometers were delivered directly from the manufacturer to the state. We believed we had sourced quality product that met the State’s requirements and filled an urgent need for Washingtonians,” Vulcan said in its statement. “We are working with the state to determine if others experienced similar problems with these thermometers and exploring what can be done to remedy the situation.”

In emailed answers to questions, members of the state’s Covid-19 response say the state only accepts thermometers that meet federal criteria, and the donated thermometers are FDA-approved. The state verified the items were not damaged, Department of Enterprise Services spokesperson Linda Kent said, but she confirmed that no one had tested them out by hand.

Washington state has been scrambling for personal protective equipment and other needed supplies since cases of Covid-19 began to surge in local communities. Since March, donations have rolled in from local companies, including Microsoft, Costco, and Eddie Bauer, as well as from the governments of Korea, China, and Taiwan.

Donations comprise 6% of all personal protective equipment acquired by the state as of end of June, according to data from the Department of Enterprise Services, with state purchases comprising over 90% of goods.

In the far northeastern corner of the state, Pend Oreille County was one place that received the thermometers -- 28 units in all -- according to state records.

Pend Oreille County Emergency Management deputy director, JoAnn Boggs said the thermometers had been distributed to the local jail and two dental offices, and the county notified the recipients right away of the potential issues with the equipment.

“We’re small enough and we have done a very good job of tracking everything we handed out, we knew exactly where we sent them out,” she said. Boggs said the agency told the recipients not to use the devices and that the units would be replaced with others.

The thermometers are the only defective equipment that the county has received, Boggs said.