USA: Schools use trained dogs to rule out COVID-19 cases

Monitoring Desk

MASSACHUSETTS: Dogs are being used in five schools of Massachusetts to detect coronavirus in schools.

According to the BBC, in some cases, studies have also shown that trained dogs can detect coronavirus more quickly than COVID-19 tests.

Canine is generally used in the military as dogs have an amazing sense of smell, which is more advanced than the human smell and many illnesses and diseases have been identified through them by carrying out experiments.

Huntah and Duke

Two young Labradors Huntah and Duke are the sniffer dogs used in Massachusetts. They have been trained to recognise the smell of someone infected with COVID-19 gives off.

Both the dogs are left to roam around the school, in empty classrooms, corridors and the cafeteria after the children have left the room. They will stop at the point where COVID-19 would be detected, as they will sit down and put their paw up on the desk or chair they think has the smell.

Then tests of identified children and staff are run by the school to confirm if they have the virus and follow the school’s COVID-19 procedures.

The manager of the five schools, Rick Medeiros, says that when the dogs aren’t working, they can meet and play with the pupils.

According to Medeiros, the system is working well and other schools across the USA have also started using dogs for the purpose.