Hi Newly registered today, I hope I can offer something that makes a positive effect on our current situation. I recently came across a new testing system for Covid that is being aimed at the airline industry. Having got into it I now believe it could help our world of exhibitions and events to engage with the communities in person once again. I think it is exciting. I hope you agree!
Headline advances
No need for Labararotry testing, can be done at venue or local area
Results in returned 45 minutes
Recorded on immutable record on app with full digital privacy
72 hour window when it is impossible for subject of the test to infect others after test is complete
The detail follows
My reason for getting in touch originally came from reading about Melvin Benn's Full Capacity Plan. After all we have been through, it seemed to be the first bit of real thinking into how we might be able to spin up live events.
Blog posts for background
Once you dig into the Full Capacity Plan, there are a few holes, and some aspects were not in place to make it practical.
In Travel Safe I saw something that made me sit up and look hard. I believe it can work for likes of the Mobile World Congress or Farnborough International and any other of the number of global exhibitions you get involved with.
I work in more than one sector. One of which supports the armed services and security sector. The team behind Travel safe came from some friends whose background is in the security services with a specialism in technology.
With Melvins plan, I thought if it could work in events, it could translate into other sectors such as travel. My colleagues at Travel safe are indeed coming at the problem from that sector.
Having outlined the issues, we face in live events and exhibitions with Travel safe; they immediately knew the system they have developed will be an easy adaption to match the needs of the live event and exhibition industry. Especially in the larger scale events such as MWC!
I am attaching a data sheet on their approach which is now being adopted in regional international airport.
When compared to the Full Capacity Plan, it pairs back some elements and most importantly enables control of testing at the venue or locally to the communities that need testing with massivley-reduced waiting times for results. It does not rely on trusting the event visitors in any way, is tamper-proof and has none of the privacy issues that the NHS app is beset with.
Once a negative (Green) result has been attained, the ticket holder has a three-day window in the green zone (venue). There is no reason why you can't start the testing 24 -36 hours before show day to spread the workload of a big crowd.
On the event day everybody in the show including the speakers, production team, the event-goers know that everyone has had a negative result and are therefore safe.
The tamper-proof system works as follows:
Procedure
1. Book and pay for a concert ticket at the usual time in advance.
2. At the same time, the customer has to download the I-warrant platform.
3. Register and validate I-warrant app at the time of ticket purchase to get them on the system as untested
4. Turn up at the venue at a prescribed location and time. (Could be up to 2 days before the show)
5. Take the test - Duration of holding process approximately 45 mins on site (if it is show day)
6. If they get a Red red result, they go to a refund route and leave the venue in a controlled manner
7. If the result is Green, they go through to the green zone and enjoy the show or for that matter the three-day festival as they will be 100% clear of the risk of infection for that amount of time.
Full Data sheet attached. Please do ask any questions if you have any
All the best
The primary function of the travel safe solution is to enable international airports to operate. As you might imagine the throughput of people will be at scale and we believe that the numbers for event operations will be well within capacity of the system. The ICGENE test system can run 48 samples at on time taking between 30-45 minutes to deliver results. Running multiple test stations at the same time increases the throughput. Remote testing stations set up before events can spread the load as people who are visiting for one day might be able to test themselves up to 48 hours BEFORE they visit.
To answer you hotel question - Once a person has gone through the test the clock starts. For the next 72 hours the science is it is impossible for them to infect anybody else. The answer therefore is off site hotels do not present a problem within the 72 hour window. They will still be in the green
Hi John, thank you for posting this info, its very interesting and in terms of offering the guarentees of safety that some corporate participants are looking for prior to commiting to an event this could be a great step forward.
Do you have a sense of what the capacity for testing would be per hour - and in a conference setting if delegates leave the site at the end of each day, would they require re-testing the following day if they return?
Please keep the forum updated with your progress!