Marin Nursing Homes Employ COVID-Sniffing Dogs: Report

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Some Marin nursing homes have enlisted man’s best friend to help protect residents from infection amid the ongoing pandemic, KQED reports.

Two yellow labs, Scarlett and Rizzo, have been trained as COVID-sniffing canines, and the early returns suggest the dogs are good at what they do.

The two dogs are about 80 percent accurate, compared to antigen tests that are between 81 percent to 91 percent accurate, the report said.

The dogs were trained by Early Alert Canines, a Bay Area nonprofit.

“You know it may be that this has been under our noses, so to speak, and we haven’t even recognized it,” Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis told the news outlet, noting that the ability to screen people faster may make the COVID-sniffing canines an integral tool.

Read more at KQED