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With about dozen countries officially remaining COVID-19 free as of writing this article, most of the world has laid down some form of social distancing guidelines to combat the spread of the virus. Currently, with the lack of vaccine and effective medical therapies being in various stages of clinical trials, social distancing is the only measure to help curb the spread of the infection [1]. The most effective method of implementing social distancing is by reducing the number of persons in any given place at a given time. State and national authorities have attempted to promote this by laying down regulations on the number of people who could attend an indoor or outdoor event at any given point of time. Since premature relaxation of regulations would undo the benefits rendered by previous social distancing efforts by making the society vulnerable to a second wave of the infection, we need to explore strategies of sustainable social distancing and crowd reduction strategies that can be easily implemented over prolonged periods of time. Many European nations have opted to reopen businesses in a phased pattern, with smaller shops and businesses opening early followed by schools, and restaurants, cafes, and cinemas, etc. opening much later. Countries such as India have opted to categorize the entire nation into zones based on COVID-19 case density and reopen businesses in the lower risk zones first. Another proposed strategy is to allow partial lifting of the lockdown restrictions during certain pre-designated times of the day so that businesses can function at a limited capacity only during those times. However, these strategies raise the concern that due to the prolonged nature of the currently active lockdown, the public might be tempted to go out in large numbers once the restrictions ease in, and that would lead to an increased person to person contact and theoretically higher chances of spread of the infection. Besides, it becomes imperative that as long as there are no vaccines available, return to pre-lockdown normal may not be possible inmany places, and there would be a continued focus on social distancing and crowd-reduction measures. There is a real need for a robust social distancing implementation strategy that authorities can follow and continue until effective tools to prevent the spread of the disease become available [2]. We propose a blockchain-based system to allow authorities to promote social distancing by allowing only a specific number of individuals at any given time in a designated area. Blockchain technology enables us to conduct electronic transactions or transfer of privileged information among participants of a network without the need of a centralized trusted third party ledger [3]. Started initially as a decentralized financial tool, the current iteration of blockchain technology (Blockchain 3.0) aims to expand the utilities of this technology beyond the financial market, and well into healthcare industries. “Smart Contracts” is one of the aspects of this technology that allows securely storing records and information on a system-wide blockchain comprising of participants or nodes [4]. Storing information on a decentralized ledger such as a blockchain network instead of on a centralized ledger such as a hospital network serves several advantages, the first of which is participant privacy. When a participant becomes part of the blockchain, a pair of keys will be generated. The private key resides with the participant whereas the public key resides on the chain. Using smart contracts, privileged information is released to the private key holder only when their private key matches the public key. By linking the private key to a person’s biometrics, this access system becomes fast, secure, and versatile. Citizens can voluntarily sign up to a blockchain-based mobile application (blockchain wallet) which would This article is part of the Topical Collection on Patient Facing Systems

COVID-19: Prolonged Social Distancing Implementation Strategy Using Blockchain-Based Movement Passes