Rapid testing kits will help Sudbury get back to business, Sudbury chamber says

The head of Sudbury's Chamber of Commerce says offering businesses rapid COVID-19 testing will help reopen the economy, safely.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the province and federal government to distribute the tests to businesses, even if they aren't Chamber members.

Debbi Nicholson, president and CEO of the Greater Sudbury Chamber, said they've already heard from several business owners interested in getting the kits.

"We have had interest from tourist-type businesses, we've had interest from a utility in town, we've had interest from a business that goes in and services other businesses and homeowners," Nicholson said.

The kits– which include a twice weekly testing–  are being offered to businesses that have employees in a high risk or essential workplace. The chamber began distributing them Tuesday. 

"Keeping our business community healthy is very important to us," Nicholson said. "I think we're a very logical organization to be involved with this sort of an initiative."

Corey Stacinski, general manager of the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre, said the test kits have been "on his radar" for a while.

"But we do have some apprehension about, you know, testing employees and if we're going to be required to test staff," he said. "So we're approaching it with a little bit of a caution."

Even with the extra caution, the potential of getting back to business is likely a game-changer, Stacinski said. 

"We've been suffering for about 15 months here with the pandemic," he said. "60 per cent of our staff is currently laid off, particularly in the food and beverage department."

"Of those staff, some of them were laid off four times in the last 365 days. So in the last year or so, anything that we can do that's going to get us closer to normalcy or opening up our business fully, we're obviously all in."

Still, Stacinski said the big takeaway for the public will be an increased confidence in the business itself.

"I don't believe it's a silver bullet, per se," he said. "But anything that we can do [will] only demonstrate to our staff, our guests and our community that we do take this COVID seriously...and we've gone, in our opinion, above and beyond sort of what's acceptable."

To register to receive a kit, visit your local Chamber of Commerce website.