DIY check-in code system available to all businesses no

A Covid-19 advice sign at St Peters station in Sydney, NSW. Picture: Getty Images

The issue of Victoria not yet having an integrated QR code system for contact tracing at shops and venues doesn’t mean businesses can’t implement their own. It appears to be an easy five-minute job.

Victorian Premier Daniel And­rews has defended the state’s failure to have a QR code check-in system up and running before retail and hospitality businesses reopened, citing incompatibility with the IT platform for contact tracing.

Mr Andrews’ new QR code system sounds a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but it might have whiz-bang features such as the ability to cross-reference contacts with other businesses where COVID-19 is detected. It may substantially speed up tracing and be well worth the wait.

However, if the idea is to simply create a register of patrons at any time, and retrieve their name, mobile number and email address in the event someone has the virus, setting up a QR code system is a five-minute job that any Victorian business can do now as an interim measure.

It’s a matter of registering at one of the websites that offers the service for free, or low-cost.

Covidtracer.com.au lets you obtain a QR code for your business and quickly set up a form for collecting customer details. It’s free if you only need one QR code and account. You can export contact details to a CSV file and hand it over to contact tracers if the data is ever needed. You can monitor who has checked into your premises at any time.

If you need more QR codes, the business version offers you 10 for $10 per month, 50 for $50 per month, and $99 monthly for unlimited codes. These professional versions offer extras such as live head accounts and customisable tracing forms.

Covidpass.com.au similarly offers patron sign-in, but adds a questionnaire about whether they have virus symptoms. The idea is you can screen potential spreaders, at least where symptoms manifest.

It’s a little more expensive: $19.95, $39.95 or $69.95 for small business, medium use and high use, with 5000, 20,000 and 50,000 passes per month respectively, but you can customise screening questions and contact field details, and visitors get a digital pass so you can check they have completed sign-in successfully.

You can swap to the official Victorian QR code government system when it comes online, but if businesses are worried about a potential outbreaks in the shorter term, these registration options could prove helpful and you don’t need to resort to the riskier option of pen and paper check-ins.