While the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami reopens to a limited number of fans on Thursday, the Miami Heat is bringing dogs being billed as “coronavirus detection dogs” to track guests and staff as they arrive at the facility. The team will be the first in the NBA to use canines to screen the public.
The science is still unclear whether dogs can, in fact, detect coronavirus infection in people. The team has been experimenting with dogs on a smaller scale to select personnel – and “we’ve learned a lot during that time,” Matthew Jafarian, executive vice president of business strategy at Miami Heat, told CNN.
If the dog sits next to you, says the Miami Heat, it signals the handler that it may have detected the Covid-19. A team member will assist you and your group with reimbursement and provide additional health and safety information – but you and your group will not be allowed to enter the arena.
Jafarian said the Miami Heat sees detection dogs as just a tool in a much larger arsenal of Covid-19 security measures – which also includes a health screening questionnaire, mandatory mask policy, cashless concession booths. , not allowing food and drinks in the arena bowl and physical distance, among other tools.
Canine experts emphasize that while research on dogs for coronavirus looks promising, it is not yet definitive. Studies exploring the reliability of dogs in detecting an active coronavirus infection are still ongoing – and there are many questions to be answered.
“We are very much ahead of that,” he said. “But it is very exciting to see that we could have another tool to detect the coronavirus.”
A sniff of new research, but the findings are not definitive
At the start of the pandemic, the Miami Heat first explored detection dogs – along with other approaches – to track the new coronavirus on its premises.
“We looked at a variety of options. There were breathalyzer tests that we looked at. We looked at traditional diagnostic tests, such as rapid antigen and PCR tests. And we thought operationally how we could manage that to hundreds and thousands of people arriving at the building.”
Jafarian added that, around the same time, some initial studies were being published in Europe and elsewhere. The studies have not been proven and have been published as pilot and proof of concept documents. When asked if the research was not definitive, Jafarian replied that he was originally skeptical, but found the studies “convincing” because they achieved similar results. He said the Miami Heat is taking its canine program “very slowly” until it learns more.
The researchers reported in their study that among 1,012 samples, the dogs correctly identified 157 positive samples and 792 negative samples, but incorrectly identified 33 samples as negative and 30 samples as positive. The dogs “achieved an overall average detection rate of 94%,” the researchers wrote.
But these studies were conducted in controlled environments and there was some repeated use of samples – so you cannot rule out whether a dog was memorizing the odor of a sample. Further research is needed to determine whether similar discoveries could emerge in the real world and among a larger group of detection dogs.
“We saw what the airport in Finland was doing, and then an airport in Dubai, and [governments] in Mexico and Chile, “said Miami Heat’s Jafarian.
Then, a few months later, a new company called SNIFF approached the Miami Heat with the offer to use detection dogs as a coronavirus screening tool in the team’s arena.
Jafarian said, “we decided to take a step forward.”
‘The virus is new’, using detection dogs is not
Aron Shteierman, SNIFF’s executive director, told CNN that he had no experience in dog training, but when the coronavirus pandemic started, he saw canines as a possible rapid, non-invasive screening tool.
In the spring of last year, Shteierman turned his idea into a business: SNIFF. Then he said he contacted the Global K9 Protection Group and asked for a partnership, specifically to use and train the company’s dogs for coronavirus detection. Global K9 Protection Group agreed.
SNIFF and Global K9 Protection Group then contacted Miami Heat.
Shteierman confirmed that “we do not use live viruses to train canines”, but he did not share specific details about the dog training process with CNN. He said it was “proprietary” information.
CNN was unable to examine the company’s research behind detection dogs, as well as the effectiveness of dogs, because it has not yet been published. For this research, Shteierman said, “We took the canines to a test site where the PCR test was being carried out and made comparison results.”
However, dogs are no substitute for getting an actual diagnosis from a PCR test or medical professional, said Larkin of the Global K9 Protection Group.
“It is important for people to understand that this technology and solution is evolving and is not a substitute for going to the doctor or a PCR test,” Larkin told CNN. “The dog was designed to be an initial screening tool for the human body, but if there was a positive indication, our first recommendation would be to seek professional medical care and do a PCR test.”
‘Some level of evidence, but I don’t think it’s rigid’
There are still significant issues.
And when it comes to coronavirus specifically, it is unclear what exactly dogs may be getting when they are trained to detect Covid-19.
In the two previous studies from Germany, France and Lebanon – published in the magazines BMC Infectious Diseases and Plos One – both research teams suggested that their dogs could be detecting the “volatile organic compounds” that are produced during coronavirus infections.
Adalja said more research on dogs is needed to detect coronavirus.
“There is beginning to be some level of evidence, but I don’t think it’s ironclad,” said Adalja. “It is not definitive yet.”