Hoping bug test will fly
App offers hope for air travel
A smartphone app verifying a negative COVID-19 test result soon may be as necessary as a passport or a visa to travel to the U.S. from another country.
The federal government is trying out such a system, and unveiled its experiment Wednesday at Newark Airport.
The app — called CommonPass — was tested on volunteers on flights between London’s Heathrow Airport and Newark.
The passengers flew across the pond and upon arrival received a rapid COVID-19 test. The rapid tests are at present less reliable than other tests for the virus, but can produce results in under 30 minutes.
The volunteers’ results were uploaded to the app, and border agents in London and the U.S. scanned a QR code to verify they tested negative.
That’s what international travel should look like until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, said Paul Meyer, CEO of the nonprofit Commons Project, which built the app in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
Eventually, the app could be used to verify whether a traveler has been vaccinated for the virus.
The trial run was overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and could be a major step toward reopening the country’s borders, which have been closed to most of the world since mid-March.
Wednesday’s test run follows another CommonPass demonstration earlier this month on a flight between Hong Kong and Singapore.
Meyer said the app — which works with verified testing facilities around the world — could help restart tourism, which accounts for roughly 10% of the world’s gross domestic product.
“Hopefully it [CommonPass] becomes a concrete tool to allow our world to begin to get reconnected and open up again,” Meyer said.
Troy Miller, the CBP director of field operations for New York, said Wednesday the department was “encouraged by this CommonPass pilot.”
Different countries have set up different standards for international travel during the pandemic.
Under an emergency order issued by President Trump in March, the U.S. has largely banned non-U.S. citizens from 26 countries in Europe, as well as the U.K. and Ireland.
People from Iran, China and Brazil are also banned. The U.S. allows some travelers from banned nations to enter if they have specific visas, such as those for students, academics or investors.
The United Kingdom maintains a list of countries from which people can freely travel without quarantining. The U.S. is not on the list, so everyone traveling from the U.S. to London or elsewhere in the U.K. must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival or face fines of up to £3,200 — about $4,200 in U.S. currency.
CommonPass could help each country implement their own regulations and verify that test results provided by travelers entering a country are legitimate.
When COVID-19 vaccines are eventually approved, the CommonPass app could also be used as a tool to verify whether a traveler has been inoculated, Meyer said.
“To travel to Brazil and Africa you must prove you’ve had a yellow fever vaccine,” said Meyer. “This is similar ... but on a much larger scale.”
CBP officials would not reveal any plans or timeline to reopen international travel — and the Trump administration has still not provided any guidance or quarantine requirements for international travelers.
Different states have put in place different policies for travelers, causing a mishmash of confusion that would have to be resolved before international travel reopens.
New York as of Tuesday requires travelers from 39 states plus Guam to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entry. The rule also applies to the majority of international travelers.