Coronavirus Watch: Dogs being trained to sniff out COVID at airports

Posted by :

Monday, May 24

Dogs can be trained to identify the unique odors associated with coronavirus infection, researchers say.

A recent study found that one dog can screen up to 250 people in an hour, according to researchers with The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University. The next stage of research will involve screening infected people in real-world settings.

"Then we will work with other experienced partners to scale-up our operations rapidly to deploy COVID-19 detection dogs in airports or other venues to screen large numbers of people, providing a rapid non-invasive screening for COVID-19," the researchers said.

It's Monday and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's what you need to know today.

•	Origins of COVID-19: China has denied a report that three Wuhan Institute of Virology employees were hospitalized with possible coronavirus symptoms in November 2019, a claim that if true would further fuel debate over the origins of the pandemic.
•	Heart inflammation in vaccinated youth: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing a small number of cases of heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, in vaccinated young adults and teenagers. A group of experts has concluded that cases seem to occur more often in males than females, more often following the second dose, and typically within four days after vaccination.
•	Florida to drop extra pandemic benefits June 26: Joining a growing list of Republican-led states, Florida is withdrawing from a federal program that gave an extra $300 per week in benefits to the unemployed during the pandemic.
•	New York City schools back full time: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all the city's public schools will be back to full-time, in-person instruction in September. No remote option will be offered, the mayor said in an interview on MSNBC.