Just what I needed was another app on my phone – this time Clear, a digital record of my vaccination.  It’s required, along with a ticket for admission, to the U.S. Olympic Trials, and I assume other major events. With the crowd divided into vaccinated and unvaccinated sections, it’s essential for quickly scanning fans for entry, otherwise it would be a traffic jam of people digging out paperwork, plus it reduces the chances of forgery. My picture and details of the Covid shot are included in the QR bar code by displaying the Clear app that will allow me to enter. Hopefully, I won’t lose my phone. 

It was a bit of a hassle finding my records in the system since my vaccination was done at a mobile site and my medical records are in the process of being transferred from Oregon to Florida.  It’s fortunate that I arranged for a physical prior to my departure, otherwise there would be no easily accessible record other than the piece of paper that I carry in my wallet. It took a long time for the app to track down my information. Now, thanks to Clear, it will be easy to digitally verify my Johnson & Johnson inoculation at sporting events and airports when required. However, without my phone, I won’t be able to show a ticket or medical records, making the device that much more essential to carry with me at all times. It’s making the wallet obsolete and ruining my hobby of collecting ticket stubs. 

It’s been well over a year now since I’ve added a ticket stub to my 25-year old collection. Colorful, unique admission tickets from the past were first replaced by boring pieces of plain paper and now fully non-existent. My wall-mounted ticket box where I once dropped memorable stubs is filling with cob-webs. Four-color, commemorative evidence that I actually attended an event is rare these days. I’m also somewhat surprised that I will receive a new Passport card and book upon renewal, or that my new Florida driver’s license is actually a hard copy and not in digital form. I’m waiting for the day when all that information is stored in a chip buried somewhere in my body. I can forget or lose my phone, but never a permanent fixture. Clear is just another step in that direction.