Rapid Antigen Screening Kits Now Available to Burlington Businesses

Burlington Ec DevCOVID-19
Written By

*Please see below a news release issued by Burlington Economic Development.May 21, 2021 - Burlington, ON – The Burlington Chamber of Commerce and its partners at Burlington Economic Development and the City of Burlington are pleased to provide free COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Screening Kits to small and medium-sized businesses in Burlington as part of the COVID-19 Rapid Screening Initiative.This initiative was launched by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, as well as the provincial and federal governments. The rapid test kits will be available to businesses with less than 150 employees in Burlington at no cost. The goal of the program is to identify asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic individuals to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace and throughout the community.

"The Burlington Chamber of Commerce is so pleased to be able to launch the Rapid Antigen Screening program in Burlington. This is an important tool that Burlington businesses can use to help detect and slow the spread of COVID-19, which is key to our economic recovery. We’re so grateful to our Team Burlington partners who have stepped up to assist pulling this program together to make it a reality for Burlington businesses." -- Carla Y. Nell, President and CEO, Burlington Chamber of Commerce"Team Burlington’s goal has always been to support our business community in any way we can. Our business community have been asking for rapid tests and we are excited to be rolling out this program in Burlington. Our partners at the City of Burlington, including Mayor Meed Ward and Council, have been huge cheerleaders for this initiative fully supporting its facilitation from start to finish. Keeping business open safely will help Burlington get on the path to economic recovery faster." -- Anita Cassidy, Executive Director, Burlington Economic Development

Supported by Team Burlington, the Burlington Chamber of Commerce and Burlington Economic Development have partnered with the City of Burlington to ensure that a safe and seamless testing program  can be made available  to interested businesses. The Rapid Antigen Screening program launches Wednesday, May 26 and will provide vital support to the Burlington business community. These rapid tests paired with existing health and safety measures will give businesses an added layer of support as they navigate COVID-19.The kits will be available for pick-up, by appointment only. The tests will be administered by a representative of each participating company who will be responsible for supervising the self-screening process. If a test comes back positive, that employee is required to immediately leave the workplace and notify public health to arrange for a PCR Test and await further instructions from Halton Region Public Health.Burlington businesses with less than 150 employees can learn more about the program here.MAYOR MEED WARD'S TAKE:Rapid Antigen Screening is another key way we can help keep businesses open and support other local shops in their re-opening. It’s critical that we use every tool we have to stop the spread of COVID-19 and rapid testing can help catch cases before they have time to spread in our community. Health and safety is our top priority and this screening program will benefit our local businesses, their employees and customers, and our community at large.—PLEASE NOTE: To stay updated on what the City of Burlington is doing regarding COVID-19, please visit the dedicated pages burlington.ca/coronavirus (and subscribe) and bit.ly/mayormeedwardCOVID19updates, and our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page — bit.ly/COVID19BurlingtonFAQ that are updated as new information becomes available.A consolidated page for information and updates on the work of the provincial Ministers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force is available at bit.ly/COVIDVaccineUpdates.Halton Region has also created a dedicated COVID-19 Vaccine webpage at halton.ca/covidvaccines for up to date information on the status of our COVID19 vaccination program.A Burlington COVID-19 Task Force has been created to help support our community through this unprecedented emergency — updates will be provided at burlington.ca/COVID19taskforce.To report an incident of non-compliance with provincial emergency orders, please contact the Halton Regional Police Service COVID-19 Hotline: 905-825-4722.We’ve also created a dedicated page to feature the local organizations and businesses that have inspired us during the COVID-19 pandemic by taking action to support our community in new and creative ways — head to bit.ly/covidwallofinspiration.HELPFUL RESOURCES & RELATED LINKS:

--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist

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