A New Way to Measure Safety: Weekly Health Passes

During COVID-19, technology use has skyrocketed – and new applications have become evident for the use of health-monitoring tech at hotels and restaurants. One such tech is the CoronaPass from intelligent automation company Bizagi. The technology enables hotels to provide temporary circulation passes to employees and guests based on their level of vulnerability and risk. It can also help hotels not only enforce policies, but clearly communicate risk and obtain waivers too.

Already, CrossBorderMedCare, a provider of healthcare services for travelers in Greece, is using it to distribute and verify passes for hotel employees and guests following an antigen test, so visitors to Greece can know that staff assisting them are at lower risk of carrying or transmitting the virus.

The CoronaPass app can be implemented based on different criteria / tests. CrossBorderMedcare’s application of CoronaPass leverages regular antigen (active virus) testing on a schedule defined by the resorts that work with CrossBorderMedCare, usually once a week. A test result showing that they do not have COVID-19 then automatically generates a pass to the employee who is then able to work for the next week. The passes are checked at the beginning of each week to ensure that employees are safe to work. This is just one of a number of safety measures that the resorts are putting in place to help drastically reduce the risks for employees and visitors.

To learn more about this technology and how it could benefit hospitality companies here in the USA, HT spoke with Bizagi CEO Gustavo Gomez.

Where did the idea for this technology come from?
We saw that fashion companies were making personal protective equipment and car companies were producing ventilators. As a software company we knew the best way we could help was to build an application. The idea came from the fact that we needed to find ways to get back to more normal routines before a vaccine is found. Mobile digital passports was an obvious solution, and one that can easily be adapted to a range of criteria. Our Bizagi platform enabled us to build it in just a few weeks.

What industries were the first to implement it?

The first industry to implement CoronaPass was hospitality. They were the fastest movers, although we’ve also received a lot of interest from the public sector and large private companies.

How did the hotel industry hear about it? Who were the first in the hotel industry to begin using it?

CrossBorderMedCare approached us following our announcement of the solution. They now provide the service to a number of resorts in Greece.

Explain an ideal scenario for how this technology would work in the hotel industry.

CoronaPass is a flexible solution, so passes can easily be generated on a range of criteria aside from health exams. CrossBorderMedCare’s implementation of CoronaPass means that hotel staff can access regular COVID-19 antigen tests, then automatically receive a pass that permits them to work based on a negative result.

Could it be adapted to and used in the restaurant industry as well?

Absolutely, the same process, or customized criteria could be applied. The key principle is the same, which is that a mobile pass-system and a way to validate those passes gives any employer the opportunity to manage and maintain which staff are safe to work. This is key when you take into account that it may not be possible to physically distance within a restaurant kitchen. The importance of this is amplified in restaurants serving large numbers of people daily.

Any other comments on how this is being used to help protect hotel staff members?

Take the example of CrossBorderMedCare’s implementation, staff will know that the colleagues working closely with them have been tested recently and that anyone with a positive result will not be permitted to work. This in itself provides a lot of protection.