A Toronto resident has created a website to help track wait times at COVID-19 assessment centres in the Greater Toronto Area.
The site crowdsources information about wait times at different locations across the GTA. Under each testing centre, you can see the current live wait time.
The website also provides information about the centre’s operating hours and what time the last patient in line is registered. You can also learn about any other requirements and age restrictions before going to the centre.
Since the website relies on people to update the status of wait times at different locations, the more people that report times then the more credible it will be.
The website was created by a start-up consultant named Ben Harris. Harris told CTV News that he’d spent the better part of a day trying to get tested and had wished that he’d known the testing centre he went to had a long wait time before he had left his house.
Since he was unable to find a resource that could help with making informed decisions about which testing centre to go to, he decided to create the website.
“In line, once you’re already there suffering through the wait time, hopefully you can post something to help out a fellow Torontonian so that they don’t have to go through the same experience that you’re going through,” he told CTV News.
Harris notes that the website has been designed so that privacy isn’t a concern for users. All that users have to do is mention what testing centre they’re referring to, and what the wait time is. There isn’t a login required.
“This site is for the community and is completely free. There is no user tracking or monetization,” the website reads.
Websites that crowdsource information from users have ended up being quite useful amid the pandemic. Earlier this year during the height of the pandemic, a user created a website to track wait times at local grocery stores.
Image credit: Covid Waits
Source: CTV News
