How green pass controls work in other countries

From France to the UK, from Israel to China, a short trip around the world to understand how you are regulating with certificates to access bars, restaurants and other businesses

(photo: Kevin Curtis / Unsplash) The issue of when and on what occasions to make the green pass necessary and how to check compliance with the law is at the center of the public and political debate in July. It goes without saying that, in addition to establishing the rules and calibrating them in a scientifically sensible way, it is also essential to verify that the rule does not remain a dead letter, but that it is enforced through a surveillance system and possibly ad hoc sanctions. Also because the absence of controls would mean in a short time the total non-application of the rule.

The issue seems quite resolved for long-distance means of transport, such as airplanes and ferries, where, together with the boarding pass, the personnel can easily carry out the checks. And in work and school contexts, the fact that the people present are the same every day makes the issue of control much easier.

The real knots to be solved, at least according to the developments of the debate which are similar in many European countries and beyond, seem to be on the one hand minor ceremonies and events in which there is no security and control personnel, and on the other hand the extension of the green certificate to daily activities in which there is typically a flow huge of people. For example restaurants, cinemas, bars but also subways, buses, gyms or shopping centers.

As for the ceremonies, however, the obligation of the green pass would theoretically already be active in Italy, even if what emerges from the news is that the controls are either very mild or not at all. As the weeks go by, attention is gradually waning and the fear is that the lack of people in charge of controlling the green passes will result in a substantial free all.

France and political mediation

For Europe, the country that has pushed the most for the extension of use of the green pass is France. President Emmanuel Macron was the first to announce the obligation to show the certificate not only on board trains and buses, but also for theaters, large shops, supermarkets, bars, clubs and restaurants. However, the line that the president has tried to impose seems to be already in the process of softening: in fact, both the trade associations (especially bars and restaurants) and the opposition forces, which are demonstrating their desire to ride the rigor, weigh on the mediation. of Macron to attract voters unhappy with the new measures.

Restaurateurs and bartenders, in particular, have complained that they do not have the authority to improvise gendarmes, carry out checks, ask for identity documents and drive out customers without green pass. Also adding that, especially for larger venues with a rapid bustle of people, the control would be very difficult and very demanding, and consequently expensive. On supermarkets and restaurants, then, there would seem to be complications of a regulatory nature, because the new rules would represent, according to the government's legal advisers, a limitation on access to food and would therefore be disproportionate to the benefit they guarantee. Finally, as if that were not enough, the trade associations have also accused the measure of being the coup de grace to the economic sustainability of the restaurant business.

The affair is not yet over, but some second thoughts have already been formalized . For activities that do not comply with the new rules, the fine has been cut from 45 thousand euros to 7,500 and the date of introduction of the sanctions has been postponed with respect to the original 1 August. The green pass requirement for shopping centers was also removed earlier this week. In cinemas, museums and events, the rule only applies if there are more than 50 people present. Finally, more time was given to catering workers to get vaccinated. These second thoughts were obviously given two different political meanings: Macron claims to have generated a peak of 3.7 million vaccination bookings thanks to the feared measures, while the opposition accuses the president of having announced rules that were obviously illegitimate, inapplicable. and ineffective.

The UK lets the summer pass

In spite of the spread of the delta variant, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has temporarily suspended all internal restrictions in the UK, although new rules have already been announced for the end of September. According to what has been announced, a vaccination certificate will be required from the end of summer (therefore the tampon or the passed disease will not be valid) to access local and other crowded places. In this case it is not at all clear how the controls could take place, even if the most shared idea is that the maneuver has above all the objective of encouraging young people to get vaccinated, rather than creating a capillary control system on access to places of sociality and fun.

Positive feedback from Israel

Outside Europe, the country that first of all has adopted an analogue of the green pass (thanks also to the speed of the vaccination campaign) is state Israel. In fact, a digital certificate was already introduced last spring - which can be obtained a week after taking the second dose - to be used also for activities such as restaurants and pubs. In this case the problem was not the controls, but the functionality of the tool. In fact, many inefficiencies have been reported not only in obtaining the pass, but also in daily use due to the instability of the application to be used at the time of the check. The solution, while waiting for the bugs to be solved, was for many to print the qr code of the green pass.

In Israel, the control activity has become the responsibility of the staff of the individual restaurant, but there are no been complaints neither from managers nor from customers. On the contrary: in addition to having all accepted the measure willingly (as had happened with the masks), the checks were carried out very quickly right away. The data from the very first weeks spoke of an average time per customer of less than one minute and then there was a further acceleration as everyone got used to the measurement. In short, the take-home message is that just as we have become familiar with wearing the mask when we are not seated and with the use of digital menus, perhaps even for the green pass it is just a matter of habit, without control ruin the experience of dinner or lunch out.

Up to China and back to Italy

China is also facing an internal path similar to the Italian and European one, with the perspective in introducing the obligation of the green pass for a series of activities. However, the situation is still evolving, and a bit like in France there have been protests and uprisings in front of the proposal to introduce too restrictive rules.

However, the initiatives of individual activities that require the green pass to allow customers access, regardless of the national rules in force. In Italy there have been cases ranging from Sicily to Lombardy.

To complicate the situation of controls are then several other issues, including at least one of an IT and another scientific nature. On the technical and digital front, there is the whole world of false certificates, counterfeits and manipulation of codes, so much so that a control activity will be required to verify that falsified or copied green passes are not spread en masse. The scientific question instead concerns the meaning and value of the green pass: as has been repeated for some time now, being in possession of the green certificate does not at all mean being 100% protected from Covid-19, therefore it would be senseless to exchange the document for a total free all. and forget the necessary attention, which we will certainly have to carry with us for the months to come.


Ecology - 1 minute ago

The map of the countries most at risk from climate change and pollution


A single European crowdfunding market is about to emerge


A 3D map of all proteins in the human body has been completed

Topics

China Coronavirus Israel Italy United Kingdom Health Coronavirus vaccine globalData.fldTopic = "China, Coronavirus, Israel, Italy, UK, Health, Coronavirus vaccine"

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.