(ETH) – Government advisers from the United Kingdom are suggesting that people who test negative for COVID-19 should be given certificates or wristbands to prove they are free of the virus and allowed to return to a more normal life according to a new report from Bloomberg.
The government stressed that giving incentives to society will be a powerful way to encourage more willful volunteering of mass testing in England, while the British Royal Family could act as “trusted messengers” in a campaign to persuade people to get tested.
This new recommendation comes from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), which is said to be a U.K. government-backed company often known as the “Nudge Unit,” which reportedly uses behavioral psychology to change people’s actions and is helping to shape the government’s pandemic strategy.
According to the study the U.K. government should “bear in mind” the key lessons of Slovakia’s success and stated that the people must be given a “strong incentive to get tested” such as allowing them to get back some freedoms if they test negative.
Bloomberg went further and stated: “Testing in Slovakia, which has a population of 5.5 million, was not mandatory but those who tested negative were issued with paper certificates, printed by the state-owned mint. These allowed people to escape a strict quarantine and go to work, shops, and outdoors for exercise.
Shops and employers, as well as the police, were given new powers to demand spot checks of the certificates. The BIT said this was a major incentive to get tested, and the U.K. could build on it by distributing paper wristbands along with certificates to those who test negative for “easier recognition of whether they can enter venues”. People were also being swayed with being offered extra rewards for getting tested, through lotteries or partnerships with local businesses, according to the report.
