The City of Belleville will provide rapid COVID-19 tests to transit drivers starting Friday.
The tests are not mandatory. They are expected to provide results within 15 minutes and can be taken three times a week.
The data will be collected and provided weekly to the Ministry of Health, while protecting drivers’ personal information.
“We understand that this third wave has increased everyone’s anxiety levels and we want to ease that stress by reassuring our community that everything possible is being done to provide a safe transit service,” the city’s manager of transit services Paul Buck said.
“Safety is paramount and this is yet another way to protect our riders.”
To date, there have been no driver cases and no contact tracing of any COVID-19 transmission to or from transit.