State of Hawaii Adopts CommonPass Digital Health App, Enabling All Domestic Travelers with SMART Health Cards to Streamline Entry into the State

U.S. travelers to Hawaii with SMART Health Cards can now use the CommonPass app to digitally verify their COVID-19 vaccination status ahead of departure, bypassing select visitor requirements

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Commons Project, in collaboration with the State of Hawaii, announced today that any domestic traveler with a SMART Health Card, regardless of airline or departure city, can now use the CommonPass app to digitally verify their vaccine status ahead of arrival in Hawaii, allowing them to bypass select quarantine requirements and streamline entry into the state.

Developed by the Vaccination Credential Initiative, the SMART Health Card standard offers individuals a digital vaccine record that can be safely and privately shared with compatible services such as CommonPass. The State of California, the State of Louisiana, Walmart, and Sam's Club have all recently made SMART Health Card digital vaccine records available to vaccinated individuals, totaling more than 21.73 million people in California and Louisiana alone. University of California San Diego (UCSD) Health has also begun issuing SMART Health Cards for COVID-19 vaccinations and for negative PCR tests through its patient portal. Additional states, pharmacy chains and health care providers will be issuing SMART Health Cards in the coming weeks.

CommonPass lets travelers digitally collect their lab results and/or vaccination records from verified health data sources and demonstrate that those records meet the health screening requirements of their destination. With Hawaii now permitting vaccinated U.S. visitors into the state as of this week, U.S. visitors with a “SMART Health Card” digital vaccine record can use CommonPass to verify that they’ve been vaccinated and waive the testing requirements that have been in place for Hawaii visitors since October. When travelers use the CommonPass exception to confirm their vaccination status in Safe Travels, they will be instantly verified, rather than needing to wait for verification as they would when uploading a paper CDC card.

“CommonPass provides passengers, airlines and governments with a trusted system to digitally verify that a traveler meets entry requirements upon arrival,” said Paul Meyer, CEO, The Commons Project Foundation. “We’re thrilled to partner with the State of Hawaii to offer CommonPass as a secure health verification option for domestic travelers as they return to travel, making the process easier for all stakeholders.”

According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), nearly 630,000 travelers flew to the Hawaiian Islands in May 2021, and arrivals are expected to increase as more individuals return to travel

“CommonPass verification gives travelers assurance that their information is valid for travel to Hawaii and that they will not be put into quarantine,” said Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige.

In lieu of uploading a SMART Health Card vaccine credential to CommonPass, U.S. travelers can complete a Covid-19 test at any CommonPass-integrated lab (including Vault Health, XpresCheck, and Worksite Labs) to verify their health status with CommonPass, which allows them to skip quarantine upon arrival in Hawaii. Passengers on select United and Hawaii Airlines flights have been piloting the technology since early April.

HOW IT WORKS

CommonPass is a digital health app that enables travelers to present standardized,verifiable proof that they’ve been fully vaccinated or have recently tested negative for COVID-19. In order to use CommonPass, travelers need to have been issued a “SMART Health Card” digital vaccine record OR take a COVID-19 test at a CommonPass-approved site. They will then be able to use the “CommonPass Exception” within the Hawaii Safe Travels portal to complete the necessary steps for quarantine-free entry to Hawaii. For a step-by-step breakdown of how the service works for travelers, see commonpass.org/hawaii.

About The Commons Project Foundation

A nonprofit public trust established with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Commons Project Foundation builds and operates digital platforms and services for the common good. Our mission-driven structure is designed to attract world-class talent to build and sustain digital public services in a way that serves people's interests above all. Beginning with health information, we are focused on empowering people to access and control their personal data and put it to use for their own benefit.

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