With the difficulties of COVID, bands are always seeking new ways to keep playing whilst keeping both themselves and the fans safe. Two of the biggest rock bands have taken safety precautions to the next level: COVID sniffing dogs. The idea is that the dogs will be able to sniff out anyone within the touring parties who may have the virus. The bands utilizing this safety precaution are none other than Metallica and Tool.
Metallica has hired Bio Detection K9 to assist them with safety measures, whilst Tool has hired another team of dogs for their party. The company has been in the virus detecting business for years, even pre-COVID, using the dogs to detect other viruses and bacteria. The dogs being used are specifically trained to respond to COVID related cases. The dogs are also said to be non responsive to flus and colds.
John Peets of Metallica’s management company (Q Prime) says,
“So far, knock on wood, the dogs have been knocking it out of the park. We haven’t had a dog miss anybody.”
Though effective, the dogs have not been used on entire audiences, only select groups of people.
Shawn Reed, the director of the Bio Detection K9 program says,
“We don’t search whole stadiums; that is not what we are there for. I don’t take a dog and search a crowd of 60,000 people.”
The process goes like this, people are asked to wear a face mask for 10 mins prior to the examination, then remove the mask as the dog passes. The dogs go through six weeks of training. After training, they’re able to sniff for the virus, if they sit down, they’ve detected the virus.
The progress made to upkeep safety during COVID is ever increasing, stay tuned to find out what’s next.
Photo credit: Mauricio Alvarado
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