Could Sniffer Dogs Be Used In The Theme Parks To Smell COVID-19?
When it comes to going through Disney security we have all seen the dogs that make the rounds looking for illegal substances. But, could they soon be checking for COVID-19 as well?
According to a piece that appeared today on WESH, it could be a possibility. The Network spoke to Florida International University professor Dr. Ken Furton who has spent a quarter of a century researching detector dogs.
According to Dr. Furton, he and his team began training dogs to detect the scent of COVID-19 right after the pandemic began. “We start off with the training wheel, in a laboratory setting, so the dog has no idea the location of the order, and then the dogs get moved out into actual settings where they’re searching in an environment where there’s people around in large rooms, things of that nature,” Furton said.
Furton said that his dogs are now trained to detect an odor consistent with COVID-19 in just a few weeks. He also advised that any dog and any breed can be trained to pick up the skill over the course of a couple of months.
“We’ve completed a research study showing the reliability that these dogs can be over 90-percent reliable in finding an odor when it’s present and very few false positives and they work very quickly,” Furton said.
When the dog smells the scent of the virus on a person or even an object, they’ll start sniffing more quickly and then stand by the odor and wait. This means that guests can be told to quarantine and areas can be properly sanitized.
So when will we see this at Disney? Dr. Furton said that dogs have already been deployed in the Florida Capitol and at Florida International. “As businesses begin to reopen up more and theme parks open up, there may be an opportunity to leverage these dogs to provide an extra layer of protection for all of us as we get back to normal activities,” Furton said.
So far, Disney, Universal and SeaWorld have yet to comment but we’ll definitely keep you posted!
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