Visitors to the Schuylkill County Courthouse will notice a large machine in the security area.

The temperature pass-through machine is on loan to the county for use during the pandemic.

“It’s like another secret weapon against the pandemic,” Schuylkill County Sheriff Joseph Groody said of the machine delivered Wednesday.

People step inside where it takes a reading of your temperature. Schuylkill County Commissioners’ Chairman Barron “Boots” Hetherington tried it.

After showing his temperature in Celsius, it said “your temperature is normal.”

The machine isn’t being always utilized to its full potential because of the time it takes to process people in it. For example, this week is criminal jury selection, necessitating a lot of people coming in the courthouse, potentially leading to people waiting in line, something they are trying to avoid. Schuylkill County Sheriff Deputies still use a handheld scanner to check temperatures.

Ty Weaver, executive director of Phantom OPS, a Tamaqua-based company, installed the machine Friday. He got the more than 6-foot tall device, a sample, from Craig Skerkis, the owner of Skerkis Group LLC, a company based in North Carolina. Weaver said the temperature machine is “a medical grade temperature sensor.”

Skerkis said he ordered the machine, which has parts from the United Arab Emirates and India, because he has a business relationship with someone in the UAE. It measures temperature in Celsius because it is a more common temperature measurement worldwide.

The machine is on loan “indefinitely,” Skerkis said.

He estimated the cost at “several thousand” dollars.

However, a similar one might be available in the United States for about $3,000.

Groody said he might have the machine moved to the North Entrance for employees, who have used the machine, but are not required to do so.

“I’m not 100 percent sure I will keep it yet,” he said.

County Administrator Gary Bender agreed the temperature machine is on loan, although he said the county is trying it out for 30 days. Other machines might also be used, he said.

Schuylkill County Commissioner Gary Hess likes the idea of the scanner.

“You don’t know who’s coming in who might have COVID.”

Hess is unsure of where money would come for such a purchase.