You've Heard of Drug Detection Dogs at Music Festivals—Now Get Ready for COVID-Sniffing Canines
Attendees of the open-air Fury in the Slaughterhouse concert in Hanover, Germany last Sunday were met with man's best friend upon entry.
The University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover (TiHo) were holding a trial examining the efficacy of COVID-19 detection dogs after publishing a study that found the canines could detect the presence of the virus in people with 94% accuracy.
500 attendees were present at the concert and were required to take a PCR test and a rapid antigen test prior to entry, IQ reports. In a more bizarre requirement, they were also required to provide two arm sweat samples, which the detection dogs then sniffed to detect the presence of the coronavirus.
TiHo
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“In order to check that the dogs in the on-site entrance situation are able to recognize infected people, we smuggled in inactivated positive samples,” explained professor Dr. Holger Volk of TiHo. "The result: the dogs have displayed all inactivated positive samples! So they did an excellent job." Good boy!
According to TheMayor.EU, Björn Thümler, Lower Saxony's Minister of Science, said the ultimate goal is to determine whether or not the virus-sniffing dogs are a viable option in lieu of the "heavy" COVID-19 testing infrastructure currently in use.
The Fury in the Slaughterhouse concert was just the first of four planned trial events in the German study. Previously, detection dogs were used at Dubai airport in a trial event, as well as Helsinki and Santiago's airports. The Miami Heat also ran similar events trialling COVID-19 detection dogs.
TiHo's interim results can be found here.
