Dogs have 330 million olfactory receptors, and an ability to detect smells 50 times better than humans. They can also smell 250 people per hour and they work for dog treats and belly scratches!
"The virus has no smell, but rather the infection generates metabolic changes" which in turn leads to the release of a particular type of sweat "which is what the dog would detect," Fernando Mardones, a Universidad Catolica professor of veterinary epidemiology
We are floundering in the United States to figure out how to deal with Covid-19 - maybe we should reach out to the hyper sensitive noses of our canine friends. They give feedback immediately, can scan huge numbers of folks quickly, and potentially save many dollars. Besides that, they make us happier!
Britain, Chile, and other countries are at the fore front on bringing talented dogs on line to sniff out coronavirus. Why should we be six months behind this game-changing effort? I love college sports and students in the classroom - couldn't we scan a crowd or students entering a classroom? Just a thought...
This is the recommendation of Phil Berg, former undergraduate college roommate at UW-Madison (a long time ago).
