Man's best friend is now part of an innovative new plan to keep COVID at bay.
Officials with the Alameda Health system are using dogs to detect COVID. They added that the dogs can sniff out the virus in people.
Alameda Health System officials said that using dogs is an innovative way to prevent COVID from spreading among high risk populations, including nursing facilities.
“The dogs have been trained to identify volatile-organic compound, which is associated with COVID-19. They’re able to do 300 people in 30 minutes, which is a much faster way then doing antigen tests," said Richard Espinoza with the Alameda Health System. "They work closely with their trainers and if they identify COVID, they sit down. They do a second step with the trainer to make sure and then, we follow up with the antigen test."
On Wednesday, a pair of Labradors demonstrated their skills at Park Bridge Rehabilitation and Wellness in Alameda. Everyone who took part in the test were prescreened to make sure they were not allergic or afraid of the dogs.
Officials said the dogs have an average accuracy detection rate of about 94%.
No cases were detected during the test run.
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