New York Airport uses blockchain app for cleanliness to combat corona

A New York airport uses a blockchain app to provide travelers with information about the cleanliness of surfaces.

In the course of the Corona crisis, the airport in Albany, New York, USA, is using the “Wellness Trace App” to check the cleanliness of surfaces and objects at Albany Airport

The app, which emerged from a collaboration between General Electric (GE), TE-FOOD and Eurofins, is intended to make travel safe even in times of the corona pandemic. The blockchain system from Microsoft Azure serves as the basic framework.

The blockchain app provides travelers with information about the cleanliness of objects and surfaces in advance, even before they come into contact with them. All the travelers have to do is scan in QR codes with their smartphones, which are located all over the airport.

In addition, users can enter their personal impression of the cleanliness of a respective surface in the app and save it for others

As Albany Airport states, the experiment with the app will initially run for three months, with airport employees being tasked with using the app to ensure proper cleanliness in and around the airport in accordance with Corona regulations. To make the relevant information accessible, more than 45 stickers with the corresponding QR codes were distributed.

Philip Calderone, CEO of Albany Airport Regulators, said that „using the innovative GE Wellness Trace app is a big step in enabling safe travel in times of pandemic through digital solutions“.

Other countries are now also using blockchain technology to fight the coronavirus.

For example, a city in Singapore uses blockchain technology to issue a digital health passport. Thanks to the joint project by SGInnovate and Accredify, the pandemic could be contained even better.

The Singapore-based company Perlin has another project, the block chain-based smartphone app „ICC AOKpass“ developed , which in turn facilitates the communication of the infection status.