Jan. 11, 2022

With space available and employees willing to help, hosting pop-up distribution sites for Ontario's Ministry of Health to distribute COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to the public was an easy decision for Wilfrid Laurier University’s Pandemic Recovery Steering Group.

Laurier volunteered to host distribution sites at its Waterloo campus from Jan. 5 to 7 and at its Brantford campus on Jan. 10. In total, the Ministry of Health is distributing up to two million rapid antigen tests to residents of Ontario through mid-January amid rising cases of the Omicron variant.

“We knew there was a need for community members to access rapid antigen tests,” says Adam Lawrence, dean of students at Laurier’s Brantford campus and a member of the university's Pandemic Recovery Steering Group. “We had the capacity to host the pop-up sites and the desire to do our part to help those in our campus communities stay safe and healthy.”

Laurier is among a group of post-secondary institutions in Ontario to host Ministry of Health rapid antigen test distribution and screening sites. One thousand boxes of rapid antigen tests were distributed at Laurier’s pop-up sites each day, with daily supply exhausted within a few hours.

Members of Laurier’s Special Constable Service and Facilities and Asset Management team assisted with set up, parking and crowd control, while staff from the Ministry of Health distributed tests and screened community members.

The Ministry of Health and community partners will host additional pop-up distribution sites through Jan. 15. A complete list of locations, dates and times is available on the Government of Ontario website.