‘Health passports’ to enter music venues are being trialled in the UK

Music venues in the UK are set to trial a ‘health passport’ system, as the live music sector plans towards safely reopening.

The health passport has been designed by the You Check app, which originally launched in mid-2019 as a ticket/ID system as a means to circumvent touts, as well as help link promoters directly to their audiences.

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Since the pandemic halted music events, You Check has adapted its notification system to help with track and track by linking attendees and integrating test results. Now it can be used to alert event attendees to possible infections, direct them to testing facilities with PHE approved kits, and keep track of the outcomes on the app.

The trial events are being organised by the Music Venue Trust and are approved by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

London’s 100 Club and Bristol’s Exchange are the venues planned to host initial test events in March, with 25 per cent capacity and two sets of tests with the same people, before testing branches out to more venues across the UK.

Last month the 350-capacity 100 Club also trialled a new ventilation system that is designed to wipe out 99.99% of harmful airborne pathogens within buildings. And You Check is also working with an anti-bacterial mask specialist and light company which eliminates pathogens using UV light radiation, as further means to help venues reopen.

This week the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) warned "81% of UK nightclubs will not survive past February" without government support.

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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.

“Hospitality is used to rules, it lends itself to this system, and we will, hopefully, have trials going by the spring,

“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, Music Venue Trust CEO, said to Event industry News: “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 and revive live.”

[Via: Event industry News]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter

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