Three schools in Massachusetts are using dogs to seek out potential cases of the coronavirus as scientists say the animals can detect the virus with 99 percent accuracy.
The Freetown, Lakeville and Norton school districts are having dogs from the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office come in to detect the virus, WBZ-TV reported.
“I see it as a great opportunity for kids to recognize that we are doing everything we can to mitigate the risk and I want them to feel secure and safe and not anxious about their surroundings,” Fairhaven School Superintendent Tara Kohler said.
The dogs can detect COVID-19 on any surface and will sit when they smell the virus to alert the officers, according to the local outlet.
“With COVID, whether it’s the Omicron, whether it’s the Delta, our dogs will hit on it,” Bristol County Capt. Paul Douglas said. “And if there’s a new variant that comes out in six months, hopefully there isn’t, but if there is one, COVID is COVID.”
“One good thing about COVID is it’s easy to destroy,” Douglas added. “It doesn’t like chemicals. Spray it down, wipe it and it eliminates the virus.”
The police department announced back in July the two dogs, Huntah and Duke, were the first law enforcement K9s trained to detect COVID-19.
“BCSO K9s Huntah and Duke are the first law enforcement K9s in the country trained to detect COVID. We celebrated at a small graduation ceremony yesterday. Huntah is Capt. Douglas’ partner and Duke is paired with Officer Santos,” the department said.
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