As the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the Belleville Chamber of Commerce is considering participating in a rapid antigen screening program for small and medium sized businesses.
Chamber CEO Jill Raycroft says a few other chambers across Ontario including Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge are already trying the program which involves funding from the federal government to provide the rapid testing kits.
Raycroft says the testing program would be for businesses with 150 employees or fewer and aims to increase the chances of identifying individuals who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic before they enter the workplace.
“The idea is that if a test comes back positive, then it gives someone the indication they should go get tested. It doesn’t take the place of, but what it does do is kind of identify an asymptomatic carrier.”
Raycroft says there would be a lot of logistics to work through including where the tests would be stored and how they would be disposed of before they could commit to the program which is why they are looking to gauge interest from chamber members first.
Businesses interested in learning more about the program can contact Raycroft directly via email at jill@bellevillechamber.ca.
