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Virus-sniffing dog, Vegas boom: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports Alabama Montgomery: Vaccines for COVID-19 are now widely available, but some people remain hesitant to take the shots, State Health Officer Scott Harris said Friday. After months of struggling with getting an adequate supply into the state, Harris said health officials are now trying to battle some people’s reluctance to sign up for doses. While people can be reluctant to take the vaccine for a variety of reasons, one is the false belief that the vaccine is more dangerous than the coronavirus, he said. “If you can identify one single issue that is a problem, it’s that there are people who are just convinced that the vaccine is somehow more dangerous than the disease,” Harris told reporters. “That’s a false belief we have to try to combat as often as we can. It’s simply not true.” Nearly one-third of Alabama’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, that figure ranks the state third from last

Virus-sniffing dog, Vegas boom, vaccine hecklers: News from around our 50 states

COVID-19-Sniffing Dog on Staff at Sarasota Hospital

By Christopher Spata and Tampa Bay Times • Published May 1, 2021 • Updated on May 1, 2021 at 10:20 am Three days a week, Buffy greets visitors at the entrance to Doctors Hospital of Sarasota. If they grant permission, she sniffs their feet seeking a whiff of active COVID-19 infection. Few decline the offer when they see the yellow Labrador retriever with a wagging tail. People generally don’t love going to a hospital, said CEO Robert Meade, but, “Who doesn’t love labs?” Be prepared for the 2021 hurricane season! Download our our mobile app for iOS to get the latest forecasts and alerts. Buffy was trained by Palmetto-based Southeastern Guide Dogs as part of a four-dog pilot program for scent detection. Southeastern Guide Dogs has for years trained service animals and provided them for free to disabled veterans and people with vision loss. Scent detection, however, was new territory.

COVID-19-sniffing dog on staff at Florida hospital

The original plan for 2020 was to train dogs to detect heightened levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. That could let the dogs know when to wake up military veterans suffering night terrors, or get them out of a stressful situation before a panic attack strikes. The coronavirus pandemic derailed that plan, but opened the door to another. Small, early studies on dogs trained to detect COVID-19 in Europe - though still unproven - showed promise. Southeastern decided to give it a shot. The four dogs selected were not the top of their class. In fact, they’d flunked out of Southeastern’s guide dog training.

COVID-19-sniffing dog on staff at Florida hospital

COVID-19-sniffing dog on staff at Florida hospital Buffy the yellow Labrador retriever detects visitors with the coronavirus at Doctor’s Hospital of Sarasota.     Buffy lays down next to the scent wheel, a tool used by Southeastern Guide Dogs to train her in scent detection. The canisters contain inactivated coronavirus samples. [ Courtesy of Doctors Hospital of Sarasota ] Updated 5 hours ago Three days a week, Buffy greets visitors at the entrance to Doctors Hospital of Sarasota. If they grant permission, she sniffs their feet seeking a whiff of active COVID-19 infection. Few decline the offer when they see the yellow Labrador retriever with a wagging tail. People generally don’t love going to a hospital, said CEO Robert Meade, but, “Who doesn’t love labs?”