Now You Can Have Your Crotch Sniffed For Covid

Source: The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR is using COVID-sniffing dogs at Atlanta race. Here's why and how they work

BY ALEX ANDREJEV | MARCH 19, 2021

K-9 handler Wayne Weseman with Happy, a COVID-19 sniffing dog, checking on Miami Heat friends and family as they enter the AmericanAirlines Arena for the Miami Heat game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, January 27, 2021. AL DIAZ ADIAZ@MIAMIHERALD.COM 

The next step in NASCAR's COVID-19 detection protocols comes with four paws and a tail. 

Two highly trained dogs will greet roughly 1,000 crew members, officials, and essential racing personnel at Atlanta Motor Speedway ahead of this Sunday's Cup race to determine whether they have the virus prior to entering the track's garage area. It's a method of virus detection NASCAR is testing out just after the sport passes the one-year mark of its pandemic shutdown.

"It is a matter primarily of speed," NASCAR managing director of racing operations Tom Bryant told The Observer. “When you combine the speed of the dog with the accuracy level that they're seeing from the dogs, we've not found a test yet that gives you that high a degree of confidence that it’s correct in that short amount of time."

According to Bryant, it will take the dog 20 seconds to sniff an individual and detect COVID-19. If the virus is detected, the dog will sit down, and that individual will report to the AMR/NASCAR safety team for follow up screening to determine their status for the race.

NASCAR is not regularly testing its teams or individuals in its garage "footprint" before races. Instead, a screening questionnaire, which relies on self-reported symptoms and exposures, is the sport's first line of defense. Temperatures are also checked at the track and rapid tests are available for the safety team physicians to utilize at their discretion after reported symptoms. The process for those tests takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete, according to Bryant.

Read more at The Charlotte Observer. 

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While Americans are being subdued and having their crotches sniffed, Europeans are out on the streets in open rebellion.