Illustrative photo
The handful of spectators who will attend the Miami Heat’s upcoming basketball games will pass through Covid-19 detector dogs. A procedure prepared for months and already applied during previous meetings of the Florida franchise, when only the relatives of the players and staff were allowed to enter the room.
As the ESPN sports channel website reports, dogs trained to detect and report people positive for the novel coronavirus will be posted at the entrances of the facility from this week. During the first NBA meetings of the Miami Heat , whose season began on December 22, only family members of players and staff of the home and visiting teams were allowed access to the American Airlines Arena .
If you read in the next few hours that the Heat will be reopening its doors to fans (2000) thanks to dogs, it’s true.
According to a German study, the dogs in question are trained to sniff and detect COVID with 94% success.
There will also be tests …
– Miami Heat France ???? (@MiamiHeat_Fra) January 24, 2021
Covid-19 sniffer dogs will filter the 2,000 spectators expected in the next matches
From this Thursday (January 28), on the occasion of the match between the Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers , 2,000 paying spectators will be able to attend. This represents 10% of the reception capacity of the enclosure, with 19,600 seats. A measure taken to ensure compliance with physical distancing .
Trained for several months, Covid-19 detector dogs have learned to sit up if they are in the presence of an individual positive for the virus . If this is the case at the entrance to the Arena , the person in question will be refused access .
Matthew Jafarian , deputy director in charge of corporate strategy for the Miami Heat , detection dogs are not a big news . “ You had seen them at airports, they were employed on critical missions by the police and the armed forces. We have been using them in the sports hall for years for the detection of explosives, ”he said.
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In addition, if a spectator says he is afraid of dogs and does not wish to be approached by one of them, he can be subjected to a rapid antigen test instead.
The health protocol to which the 2000 ticket holders will have to comply also includes the wearing of the obligatory mask, the filling out of a questionnaire and the prohibition of purchases in cash . </p
