Today, Mayor John Tory announced that the City of Toronto has partnered with the Toronto Region Board of Trade to provide free COVID-19 rapid screening kits to small- and medium-sized businesses across Toronto.

Last month, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade in partnership with the federal government and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, launched the COVID-19 Rapid Screening Initiative for small- and medium-sized businesses across the province.

Businesses in Toronto with 150 or fewer employees are welcome to participate in this voluntary initiative.

Use of rapid screening kits by employees of small- and medium-sized businesses can help identify asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the workplace, thereby reducing the spread of COVID-19 in those workplaces, at home and in the community.

Eligible businesses can visit https://bot.com/rapidscreening to order their initial four-week supply of testing kits from the Toronto Region Board of Trade and book a time slot for pickup.

To make it easier for eligible businesses to participate in this voluntary initiative, the rapid screening kits will be available for scheduled pickup at the following locations beginning Friday, June 18:
• Etobicoke Civic Centre, 399 The West Mall
• North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge St.
• Scarborough Civic Centre, 150 Borough Dr.
• Fort York Visitor Centre, 250 Fort York Blvd.

These distribution sites will be open for scheduled pickups by appointment only from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Additional distribution sites may be added for Step 2 of Ontario’s re-opening in late June or early July.

Participating businesses must ensure employees use the rapid screening kits correctly, watch a training video, and safely dispose of the used testing kits. Each business will be required to electronically submit their screening results and are advised to test staff twice weekly. The accumulated data will be reported to the Ontario Ministry of Health monthly.

People who test positive for COVID-19 through workplace rapid screening kits should obtain a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at any assessment centre, preferably within 24 hours of the rapid screening test. Results for confirmatory tests conducted by assessment centres are submitted directly to Toronto Public Health.

While waiting for confirmatory test results, people must isolate at home, whether they have symptoms or not, for 10 days from the first day of symptoms or the date of the positive rapid test if there are no symptoms.