New Excelsior Pass pilot program in final stages
Testing or vaccines proof for large venue gatherings
Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo announced a pilot
program to test the Excelsior
Pass during events at
Madison Square Garden and
Barclays Center. First announced
in the Governor’s
2021 State of the State address
and developed in partnership
with IBM, the Excelsior
Pass will use proven,
secure technology to confirm
an individual’s vaccination
or a recent negative
COVID-19 test through a confidential
data transfer to help
fast-track the reopening of
theaters, stadiums and other
businesses in accordance
with New York State guidelines.
This new technology
was successfully tested during
the initial phase of the pilot
during the Brooklyn Nets
game at Barclays Center on
February 27.
Similar to a mobile airline
boarding pass, individuals
will be able to either print out
their pass or store it on their
smartphones using the Excelsior
Pass’s “Wallet App.”
Each pass will have a secure
QR code, which venues will
scan using a companion app
to confirm someone’s COVID
health status. The results of
the pilot program will be used
to enhance the quality of the
application, maximizing return
on investment and saving
development time, prior
to submission to Apple and
Google for approval to go into
their app stores.
“We’re doing everything
we can to vaccinate as many
New Yorkers as possible, as
quickly as possible, while
keeping the infection rate
down and reenergizing our
economy in a safe, smart
way,” Governor Cuomo said.
“As we begin reopening the
valves on different sectors of
our economy, we are putting
guidelines in place to ensure
individuals attending events
involving larger gatherings
have tested negative for COVID
or have been vaccinated
to avoid an outbreak of the virus.
The Excelsior Pass will
play a critical role in getting
information to venues and
sites in a secure and streamlined
way, allowing us to fasttrack
the reopening of these
businesses and getting us
one step closer to reaching a
new normal.”
As part of major stadium
and arena reopening guidelines
announced by the Governor
on February 10, venues
must ensure that all staff and
spectators receive a negative
COVID-19 PCR test within 72
hours of the event. During
this pilot program, a subset
of predetermined participants
will be able to use the
pass to confirm their recent
negative COVID-19 test and
gain entry to these events at
Barclays Center and Madison
Square Garden.
Robust privacy protections
are woven throughout
the digital health pass solution,
giving individuals a secure,
verifiable and trusted
way to maintain control of
their personal health information
using an encrypted
digital smartphone wallet
or printed credential. Each
participant will be able to determine
if they would like to
Take Care to Protect Yourself and Others
From COVID-19
Safely separate at a Free, Private Hotel Room.
If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or were in contact with someone who tested positive, you can qualify for a hotel room for up to 14 days to safely separate and protect others.
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Call 212-COVID-19 (212-268-4319)
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use it -and if so, what passes
they wish to use for which
purpose -all without sharing
their underlying personal
data.
The Excelsior Pass and
its companion verification
app are built on IBM’s Digital
Health Pass solution and
is designed to enable the verification
of health credentials
such as test results and vaccination
records. Using blockchain
technology, individuals
will be able to voluntarily
share their health status
through an encrypted digital
wallet on their smartphone
without the need to share
underlying medical and personal
information. The technology
is flexible and built to
scale, allowing other states
to join and help foster a safer,
trusted transition to a postpandemic
reality.