“Health Passports” to be trialled at UK music venues
Original article published in Crack Magazine
The trials will be held at London’s 100 Club and Bristol’s Exchange.
A new ‘health passport’ system is set to be trialled in music venues in the UK as a step towards re-opening the live music sector as safely as possible. Created by the company You Check, the health passport system will make it possible for venue door staff to verify an event attendee’s name, age, ticket and Covid-19 test result in one place.
The first trials are taking place at 100 Club in London and Exchange in Bristol (pictured). Events will run at 25% capacity, and with two sets of tests on the same people. The trials are expected to begin in spring.
You Check is a start-up app which launched in mid-2019. The app was originally designed as a ticket/ID system to tackle touts and offer promoters a new line of communication with their audience. In the wake of Covid-19, and the postponement and cancellation of music events, the team behind the app adapted its systems to connect with track and trace software.
You Check are working with Music Venue Trust on the health passport app trials, which have now been approved by the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Fred Krefting, founder and COO at You Check, told Event Industry News, “We’re working, not exclusively, with Innova in terms of testing – technology that looks for a viral load high enough to be contagious with 97 per cent plus accuracy. With Covid-19 the incubation period is two to five days. For the honeymoon phase after the test, it’s the shorter the better, which means you’re good to go to a show for 48 hours.”
“It’s important to work alongside government when running these pilots and we’re grateful to the DCMS for giving us the go-ahead.”
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, said, “You Check’s identity first solution has a lot of potential to help venues and promoters manage risk.”
“It has a fast and thorough authentication process which enables health information to be stored against portable digital identity and Music Venue Trust is pleased to be working with You Check to explore how this technology might form part of a comprehensive process which enables us to reopen every venue safely.”
Original article published in Crack Magazine