There are a number of different technologies both proposed and in development to help smooth the reopening of parts of the economy even as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic continues. One such tech solution launching today comes from Brian McClendon, co-founder of Keyhole, the company that Google purchased in 2004 that would form the basis of Google Earth and Google Maps. McClendon’s new CVKey Project is a registered nonprofit that is launching with an app for symptom self-assessment that generates a temporary QR code, which will work with participating community facilities as a kind of health “pass” on an opt-in basis.
Ultimately, CVKey Project hopes to launch an entire suite of apps dedicated to making it easier to reopen public spaces safely. Apple and Google recently launched an exposure notification API that would allow CVKey to include those notifications in its apps. CVKey also plans to provide information about facilities open under current government guidelines and their policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as much as possible.
The core element of CVKey Project’s approach, however, is the use of a QR code generated by its app that essentially acts as a verification that you’re “safe” to enter one of these shared spaces. The system is designed with user privacy in mind, according to McClendon. Any identity or health data exists only on a user’s individual device — no date is ever uploaded to a cloud server or shared without a user’s consent. Information is also provided about what that sharing entails. Users voluntarily offer their health info, and the app never asks for location information. Most of what it does can be done without an internet connection at all, McClendon explains.
When you generate and scan a QR code at a participating location, a simple binary display (based on the location’s policies) indicates whether you’re cleared to pass. The location won’t see any specifics about your health information. The code simply transmits the particulars of shown symptoms (which ones and how recently, for instance), and then that is matched against the public space’s policy. The app then provides a “go”/”no-go” response.
McClendon created CVKey Project with former Google Earth, Google Maps and Uber co-workers Manik Gupta and Waleed Kadous, as well as Dr. Marci Nielsen, a public health specialist with a long history of public and private institution leadership.
The apps created by CVKey Project will be available soon, and the nonprofit is looking for potential partners to participate in its program. Like just about everything else designed to address the COVID-19 crisis, it’s not a simple fix, but it could form part of a larger strategy that provides a path forward for dealing with the pandemic.