As of: 09/20/2021 5:37 p.m.
Can specially trained dogs make large events safer from corona outbreaks? On Sunday, detection dogs were used for the first time at a concert in Hanover – apparently with success.
After the first attempt at the concert by the band Fury in the Slaughterhouse, the University of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo) has announced an interim result. The scientists mixed test persons with positive samples with the audience: the dogs recognized all positive samples, said a spokeswoman for the TiHo on Monday. The test subjects stood in line like everyone else and put cotton pads with a sweat sample in a container. These were positive but inactive viruses, explained the TiHo. The six sniffer dogs used found out these prepared samples 100 percent. In a next step, the additional smears of all 500 concert-goers are to be checked with a PCR test. Only then will it be found out whether a positive guest has slipped through the dogs, said the TiHo spokeswoman.
Free tickets for the Bosse concert
A total of four concerts are planned as part of the research project by TiHo, AWiAS Aviation Services and the organizers. On Monday evening from 8 pm on the “Back to Culture” website, 800 free tickets for the next concert in the series on September 27th will be given away. Then the musician plays bosses. This is followed by two events with Alle Farben and Sido, as the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science announced on Thursday. At the last concert, up to 1,500 visitors are allowed. They should be allowed to celebrate with each other without a mask or distance.
Minister Thümler: “Worldwide interest in the project”
“We are pleased to be part of the study and hope that it will be a groundbreaking step for the culture industry,” said Hannover Concerts Managing Director Nico Röger at the presentation of the research project on Thursday. The aim is to find out whether the use of dogs can be an option, said Science Minister Björn Thümler. “There is worldwide interest in the project,” emphasized the CDU politician.
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Hit rate of more than 90 percent
In the summer of last year, a research team led by TiHo published a study for which detection dogs from the Bundeswehr had been trained for the corona virus. It said that more than 90 percent of the more than 5,000 samples submitted were correctly identified by the four-legged friends. “For medical sniffer dogs, all tested body fluids seem to be suitable in a similar way to reliably detect Sars-CoV-2 infected people,” said the researchers. There are a total of 26 studies worldwide that have shown that dogs can sniff out corona infections.
The Ministry of Science is funding the “Back to Culture” project with 1.3 million euros.
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