Since COVID-19 first swept the country and caused mass quarantine about a year ago, metal fans have begun wondering when concerts would come back, and what would be required of fans attending them. The temperature checks and symptom reviews that are necessary to enter hospitals and doctors’ offices certainly seem like the first step. Now, a new app has launched that will ostensibly be the way that New Yorkers can get into concerts in the future.
The app is called Excelsior Pass, in case you were worried it wouldn’t sound nerdy enough, and it provides digital proof of a negative COVID test or a vaccination, which would be uploaded to the app by one’s vaccination or testing site. Users can download the free app, have their info transmitted to it, and then have it scanned upon entry at a venue like a boarding pass or passport during travel. Paper proof of a negative test or vaccination will also suffice, but is seemingly not as easy as the digital version.
“New Yorkers have proven they can follow public health guidance to beat back COVID,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo, “and the innovative Excelsior Pass is another tool in our new toolbox to fight the virus while allowing more sectors of the economy to reopen safely and keeping personal information secure.”
“The question of ‘public health or the economy’ has always been a false choice — the answer must be both. As more New Yorkers get vaccinated each day and as key public health metrics continue to regularly reach their lowest rates in months, the first-in-the-nation Excelsior Pass heralds the next step in our thoughtful, science-based reopening.”
Excelsior Pass is currently available for free download, and will probably be your easiest way to get into a New York City concert in the coming year. That said, we urge fans to stay safe, wear masks when they can, and to not break the oath.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
