Dogs Being Deployed in the Effort to Defeat COVID-19
You probably have a neighbor with a friendly dog who inspects you every time you visit. With a nose. Dogs have a tremendous sense of smell compared to their human masters. Odors are one method where they navigate their environment. It’s why dogs are so critical in law enforcement and in sniffing out illegal drugs.
A program like this could be launched anywhere around the world.
They can also be trained to detect disease. Doctors in Finland have been training dogs to detect COVID-19. In this story from Travel and Leisure it explains the training began early this year as fears grew travelers would bring the virus into the sparsely populated Scandinavian country. Research teams determined the dogs could sniff out coronavirus in urine, however. It’s not efficient to have all arriving visitors to fill a cup. The testing and training became more refined. The animals can now detect the aroma in sweat.
Someone giving off a whiff of COVID can now undergo more intensive testing and in case of a positive, be quarantined until the threat of transmission passes.
Four dogs will initially be employed with the project and as many as two dozen could eventually be available for service at the country’s airports.
A program like this could be launched anywhere around the world.
The program got underway this week and has quickly drawn the attention of the world’s media, as well as governments looking for an affordable solution.