THE LUNACY CONTINUES: Finland: COVID-sniffing canines deployed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport
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Finland: COVIDTravelers who arrived at Helsinki airport were able to get a free COVID-19 test done by a trained sniffing dog as part of a pilot program at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Friday.
"The COVID testing took off incredibly well, and the dogs are doing fine. This is their fifth day in real action at the airport and it seems that they have no problem performing to sniff all day long," Said Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose, the organisation behind the initiative.
Travelers were seen queuing up for the test where they were asked to wipe their skin using a cloth to collect sweat samples and to leave the cloths in a can. The cans containing different scents were presented to a dog, which picked out the COVID-positive can.
"I just rubbed with the cloth on my skin directly, also my neck and dropped that in the can; in ten seconds she gave me the result," said a traveller from Vietnam
The Finnish organisation Wisenose is training a total of 16 dogs for the project, 10 of which will be able to work at the airport.
*SOUNDBITES*
SOT, Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose (Finnish): "The COVID testing took off incredibly well, and the dogs are doing fine. I was thinking, this is their fifth day in real action at the airport and it seems that they have no problem performing to sniff all day long (their working hours are from 11 to 18.) But, getting used to the sonic world around here and to the environment, just those factors make them tired."
SOT, Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose (Finnish): "Dogs learn this job differently, my other dog Kossi learned the task in about seven minutes because she had already a long history of sniffing training on human biological smell samples, so already at the start she had more sensitive abilities for this type of a job and she was used to work on similar tasks."
SOT, Oona Pyykko, Sniffing dog Assistant (Finish): "No, not at all [So there was no-one who would not want to do this test?], as this is not compulsory, everybody comes here of free will."
Journalist (Finish): "Did you get any feedbacks from people so far? Were there any positive ones?"
SOT, Oona Pyykko (Finish): "People are coming out of the test with a happy face especially when they saw the dog doing the sniffing. Some even said thank you."
SOT, Traveller from Vietnam: "It took about 30 seconds, it was instant, I've been travelling in Asia and in Vietnam. I just came back from Vietnam, the journey there took about a week, but what we had here it was surprisingly amazing."
SOT, Traveller from Vietnam: "I just rubbed with the cloth on my skin directly, also my neck and dropped that in the can; in ten seconds she gave me the result."-sniffing canines deployed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport
"The COVID testing took off incredibly well, and the dogs are doing fine. This is their fifth day in real action at the airport and it seems that they have no problem performing to sniff all day long," Said Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose, the organisation behind the initiative.
Travelers were seen queuing up for the test where they were asked to wipe their skin using a cloth to collect sweat samples and to leave the cloths in a can. The cans containing different scents were presented to a dog, which picked out the COVID-positive can.
"I just rubbed with the cloth on my skin directly, also my neck and dropped that in the can; in ten seconds she gave me the result," said a traveller from Vietnam
The Finnish organisation Wisenose is training a total of 16 dogs for the project, 10 of which will be able to work at the airport.
*SOUNDBITES*
SOT, Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose (Finnish): "The COVID testing took off incredibly well, and the dogs are doing fine. I was thinking, this is their fifth day in real action at the airport and it seems that they have no problem performing to sniff all day long (their working hours are from 11 to 18.) But, getting used to the sonic world around here and to the environment, just those factors make them tired."
SOT, Susanna Paavilainen, CEO of Wisenose (Finnish): "Dogs learn this job differently, my other dog Kossi learned the task in about seven minutes because she had already a long history of sniffing training on human biological smell samples, so already at the start she had more sensitive abilities for this type of a job and she was used to work on similar tasks."
SOT, Oona Pyykko, Sniffing dog Assistant (Finish): "No, not at all [So there was no-one who would not want to do this test?], as this is not compulsory, everybody comes here of free will."
Journalist (Finish): "Did you get any feedbacks from people so far? Were there any positive ones?"
SOT, Oona Pyykko (Finish): "People are coming out of the test with a happy face especially when they saw the dog doing the sniffing. Some even said thank you."
SOT, Traveller from Vietnam: "It took about 30 seconds, it was instant, I've been travelling in Asia and in Vietnam. I just came back from Vietnam, the journey there took about a week, but what we had here it was surprisingly amazing."
SOT, Traveller from Vietnam: "I just rubbed with the cloth on my skin directly, also my neck and dropped that in the can; in ten seconds she gave me the result."-sniffing canines deployed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport