Earlier this week, the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce (ODCC) began providing free rapid COVID-19 tests to local businesses. So far, they have given out 1,700 tests and interest is high.
The chamber's managing director, Allan Lafontaine, says the goal of the program is to identify asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the workplace that might otherwise be missed, helping to curb the spread of the virus in the community.
“We’ve had a lot of interest and calls. We are even getting calls from outside of our area,” Lafontaine said.
He said the ODCC is committed to helping any business in the Orillia area, but said the local organization does not have the resources to provide tests for those outside of Lake Country at this time. However, they are looking for sponsorships to help expand their reach.
While the COVID vaccine rollout continues to ramp up as case numbers drop, Lafontaine says there are never too many resources to help conquer COVID-19.
“Here in Orillia and in Lake Country, businesses are doing such a good job at providing personal protective equipment, but we still weren’t seeing the numbers shrinking for the longest time,” he said.
“When we heard that there were all these tests available, we figured why not get these out there to spread awareness, give consumer confidence, and employee confidence for our businesses on the community.”
Lafontaine says the tests will help keep local businesses open and help prevent possible workplace outbreaks.
“If we can stop businesses from having breakouts, we can keep businesses from closing their doors for an extended period of time.”
Mariposa Market owner Bob Willsey says he is thrilled with the chamber's initiative to provide local businesses with the tests.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see the Chamber’s email on Monday about these tests, and it was just two days later that I was able to pick them up,” Willsey said.
“We are trying to put together every tool we can to try and fight this: masks and shields, wiping down surfaces with sanitizers, and having barriers to name a few. So, I thought this would be a nice thing to do in order to spot check to make sure everything is safe," he told OrilliaMatters.
Willsey says he plans on offering the tests to his employees when someone feels they may have been in contact with a person who might have been in close contact with someone who tested positive.
“Even if they show no symptoms or haven’t had direct contact, maybe that would be another nice little option to help put that person’s mind at ease while keeping our store staff and customers safe,” he said.
Thor Motors owner Nathan Brown agreed.
“This truly is a great initiative by the Chamber that will help us protect our staff and customers,” Brown said.
“It’s important to provide safety and security to our employees and to maintain continuity of business and not have to close down, as that would disrupt business operations."
Brown says he’s seen other businesses in the auto industry fall victim to COVID-19 outbreaks, so having all the tools to prevent the same from happening at Thor Motors is crucial.
“We’ve seen businesses that aren’t able to contact trace or deal with infection fast enough, so for us to have the ability to rapid test our staff and isolate those who need to be quickly is very beneficial,” he said.
“We also don’t want to put customers in harm's way if we have an issue, so this allows us to be safer," Brown added.