Ontario Details Companies Pushing COVID Alert App Downloads

The Ontario government is now working with some of the most influential brands in Canada, including Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, to encourage more people to download the COVID Alert app and help protect people across the country from the pandemic.

“One of the best and simplest ways to protect you, your family, and people around you from COVID-19 is to download the made-in-Ontario COVID Alert app,” said Premier Doug Ford on Thursday.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Argonauts, Toronto FC, and the Toronto Maple Leafs used their voice to encourage people across the province to download COVID Alert to protect themselves and their loved ones.

COVID Alert has also been promoted by other private-sector partners, including:

• Bell Canada
• BMO
• Bruce Power
• Canada Life
• CIBC
• Enbridge
• Manulife
• Postmedia
• RBC
• Scotiabank
• Sun Life
• TD Bank
• Torstar
• The Globe and Mail

Additional support for the app is being provided by:

• Ontario Chamber of Commerce
• City of Toronto
• City of Ottawa
• Residential Construction Council of Ontario
• Canadian Armed Forces
• Restaurants Canada
• Ontario Energy Board
• Ontario Pension Board
• OP Trust
• Ontario Power Generation

Canada’s COVID Alert app is based on Google and Apple’s exposure notification framework, which leverages Bluetooth on devices for anonymous “handshakes” in the background. The app does not use GPS info or collect any user data. It has been vetted as safe by Canada’s privacy commissioner and provincial counterparts.

When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they can anonymously alert others that may have been in contact using COVID Alert, by obtaining a one-time use from their provincial health authority.

COVID Alert launched this week in Nova Scotia, joining Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The government is also launching a new webpage that will provide businesses large and small with the tools they need to promote the app.