Numeric variables: Default of "zero" isn't treated as a number?

I am having the same issue. I have a slide with a few Numeric Entry Fields. Their according Variables default value should be zero (according to the Variables Panel) but Storyline doesn't recognize this value. If I set a trigger to eg. jump to next slide when all of these variables are zero, it doesn't work because Storyline apparently sees them as empty/"blank".

It makes no difference if I change the name of the variables or the Entry Fields or not. The Numeric Entry Fields variables seem to be "blank" by default and if I trigger them to be set to 0 when Timeline starts I see this default value, which is not desired.

And I don't want the user to be able to insert Text, so switching to the Text Entry Field isn't an option either.

Are there any news on this glitch? It's really frustrating trying to figure out a walk-around for this issue.