Free COVID-19 testing facility to open in Waukegan
A drive-through COVID-19 testing facility, the state's first community-based site in Lake County, will open Sunday in Waukegan.
Lines are expected in advance of the 8 a.m. opening of the Illinois Department of Public Health's latest community site at 2161 Northwestern Ave., a vehicle emissions testing facility.
Testing is free and will be administered every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until 500 tests are completed. Results will be available in four to seven days.
Those seeking tests must show photo ID and health care employee or first responder ID/badge if applicable.
Anyone to be tested must be seated at a functioning window. Individuals will not be permitted to get out of the vehicle once in line. Walk-ups will not be accepted.
Besides health care workers, first responders and those with symptoms, the test is available to those who work at correctional facilities or support "critical infrastructure" such as grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, gas stations, public utilities, factories, child care and sanitation.
Testing also will be available to individuals who have been exposed to confirmed COVID-19 patients, have compromised immune systems or chronic medical conditions, or who are scheduled to receive elective surgery within 72 hours.
The facility is a collaboration between the Illinois National Guard, state and city of Waukegan.
As of Thursday, Waukegan and North Chicago accounting for about 37% of the 3,621 confirmed cases in Lake County, which also had recorded 127 COVID-19 related deaths.
"There's a lot more people out there (throughout the county) who are positive," Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Health Department, said earlier this week.
He said expanded testing will provide a better understanding of the impact on communities. A team is ready to complement the tests with "thorough contact tracing" to prevent additional cases, he added.
"Having a more complete picture of this crisis will improve our response and plans for recovery," he said.
The Waukegan facility is the sixth state community-based testing center, joining ones in Harwood Heights, Rockford, Bloomington, Markham and Aurora. There also are dozens of commercial testing sites; visit https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/s/testing-sites for a list and related information.
One of them, a Rosalind Franklin University Health Clinics drive-through site operating Tuesdays and Fridays at 3471 Green Bay Road in North Chicago, now is accepting anyone who has symptoms and has completed a phone screening process at (224) 570-7575.
Symptoms can include fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell.