Dogs can smell COVID infections in patients, with as much accuracy as a PCR test. What's stopping us from building a machine that 'smells' the patients and detects it as well, if not better, than a dog?

Thank you for your question ! I ' m glad you ' re interested in expl oring new ways to detect COVID - 1 9 . However , I must respect fully point out that the assumption in your question is not entirely accurate . While dogs have been trained to detect COVID - 1 9 through their sense of sm ell , it ' s important to understand that their accuracy is not on par with PC R tests , which are the gold standard for diagn osing COVID - 1 9 . \n PC R tests are highly accurate and reliable , and they have been extens ively tested and valid ated through numerous studies . They are able to detect even very small amounts of the virus in a patient ' s sample , and they are generally more accurate than re lying on a dog ' s sense of sm ell alone . \n That being said , there are on going research and development efforts to create machines that can detect COVID - 1 9 through non - in vas ive means , such as using sens ors to detect the virus in a patient ' s breath or sal iva . However , these techn ologies are still in the early stages of development and have not yet been widely tested or approved for use . \n In summary , while dogs have shown promise in detect ing COVID - 1 9 through their sense of sm ell , it ' s important to rely on scientific ally valid ated methods for diagn osing the virus , such as PC R tests . These tests are more accurate and reliable , and they are the best way to ensure that patients receive the appropriate medical care and treatment . </s>