Two dogs detecting COVID-19 will be making the rounds at some Massachusetts schools to help curb the spread of the virus among the students and staff. The one-year-old Labradors, Huntah and Duke, handled by the Bristol County Sheriff's office, will be working at Norton, Lakeville, and Freetown school districts.
Bristol County Capt. Paul Douglas told CBS Boston that the dogs can smell any COVID-19 variant, whether Delta or Omicron and whatever variant could still develop during the pandemic. If the dogs detect COVID in the classrooms, they will sit down next to it to alert the teachers and staff to clean the area with disinfectant. The school will also check to see who among the students have been nearby and inform their parents if they want to get tested.
An Extra Mitigation Measure
Fairhaven School Superintendent Tara Kohler said that the working dogs show the kids and their parents that the school is committed to mitigating the risks of the virus. Kohler noted that having the dogs detect COVID-19 in the premises also reduces the anxiety of the kids about their surroundings.
Experts at the Florida International University devised the training for the working dogs, which was modeled after the training for dogs that could detect fungus wiping out avocado trees in the Sunshine State. According to DeEtta Mills, the first dogs they trained had 97 percent accuracy in detecting the virus.
"We wanted to make sure to put the science behind it," Mills said, adding that they also made sure that the odor of the coronavirus "was different than somebody else that was sick with something else."
Norton Superintendent Joseph Baeta said that some children might be scared to see dogs sniffing humans. Fortunately, Labradors are friendly and approachable breeds that could appease their fears. When they are not working, the children love to pet the dogs.
K9s Huntah and Duke visited Norton Middle School today for some Covid-detection work. Thanks to Supt. Baeta and everyone from @NortonSchools and @FIU_Forensics for the help. pic.twitter.com/5NdOgIQP2W
— Bristol County Sheriff's Office (@BristolSheriff) January 5, 2022
Huntah and Duke are half-siblings with the same father and different mothers. They were introduced to the sheriff's office in May 2021. Dr. David and Jane Askew of the Dartmouth community donated the dogs to service the community.
How Dogs Sniff COVID-19
According to National Geographic, dogs can smell the volatile organic compounds of COVID-19 excreted through saliva and sweat. To a dog's sensitive nose, these compounds are like "fingerprints of the disease."
Some experts believe that dogs detecting COVID-19 could replace PCR tests. The animals bring minimal risks since there are no known cases of COVID-19 transmission between animals and humans through the sweat.
The program, however, needs to employ the right sniffer dogs who are reliable and won't quickly get bored on the job. Aside from Labradors, other dogs trained for this job are Beagles, German Shepherd, Husky, and Border Collie.
