OXFORD, Miss. — Concert goers who attended a sold-out event featuring the Black Keys at the lyric theatre in oxford found some unexpected COVID precautions.
Two specially-trained COVID sniffing dogs, named Lord and Mindy, gave ticket holders the once over before they entered. The dogs have been trained by an Alabama company named BIO Detection K9.
Lindsay Dillon-Maginnis is general manager of the Lyric Theatre. She says the Black Keys wanted COVID sniffing dogs at the Oxford venue.
“This was not our doing. This was originally structured through the band and was one of their requirements for the event,” Maginnis said.
She says this isn’t the first time the band has used COVID sniffing dogs at their concerts.
“So far it’s pretty successful,” Maginnis said. “I know that they’ve had to pull out a couple of people from previous shows to do “rapid testing” on site.”
These dogs were just one of the COVID precautions in place before ticket holders got in the doors.
“Everyone is required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within the last 72 hours,” Maginnis said. “In addition to that everyone will go past a COVID screening with COVID sniffing dogs. If the dogs detect COVID-19, then the people are pulled out of the line for additional screening.”
That’s perfectly fine for Diego Nunez, a Black Keys fan from Long Beach, California. He says he’s never heard of COVID sniffing dogs before and is anxious to see them in action.
“Yea, I’m all for it. I’m all for safety, especially with a venue like this, a lot of people, close proximity, Nunez said. “So, yea, it’s definitely something I welcome.”
Eleven hundred people were expected to attend Thursday’s show.
