Lessons Learned From a COVID-19 Dog Screening Pilot in California K-12 Schools. Really!

Why do we still need dogs for sniffing? It should be a high priority to replace dog noses at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century!!!

"... A team led by researchers from the California Department of Public Health, which also sponsors a statewide school-based COVID-19 antigen testing program, used two trained dogs in 50 visits to 27 schools from April 1 to May 25, 2022, a period dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. The medical-alert dogs had undergone 2 months of COVID-19 scent training in a lab, where they achieved greater than 95% sensitivity and specificity. ..."

"... Scent-trained dogs are a strategy for rapid, noninvasive, low-cost, and environmentally responsible COVID-19 screening. We conducted a dog screening program to complement a school antigen testing program. ..."

Scent-trained dogs highly accurate in detecting COVID-19 in schools Scent-trained dogs detected COVID-19 infection with 83% sensitivity and 90% specificity in nearly 3,900 screenings at California K-12 schools in spring 2022

Lessons Learned From a COVID-19 Dog Screening Pilot in California K-12 Schools | Infectious Diseases | JAMA Pediatrics | JAMA Network

Credits: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Global Health NOW