Illinois Community-Based COVID Testing Sites To Close This Week

SPRINGFIELD, IL — As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to drop across Illinois, state health officials have announced that their 10 community-based testing sites across the state will close this week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said that the closures are in response to a sharp decline in the demand for COVID-19 testing. There are currently 10 community-based testing sites across Illinois, including Aurora and Arlington Heights. With the drop in demand and the anticipation of the ending of federal funding for the sites, health officials said the final day of operations for the sites will be Thursday.

The sites have conducted more than 1.5 million tests since the start of the pandemic but have seen a sharp drop in demand, especially since the mask and proof-of-vaccination requirements were lifted last month, state health officials said.

As of Friday, the state’s seven-day rolling positivity rate stood at just 1.4 percent, and hospitalizations and COVID-19 patients in intensive care units are at the lowest rate they have been since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The testing sites are seeing their lowest numbers since the start of the pandemic, with fewer than 50 tests being conducted at the sites each day, state health officials said. With the availability of free at-home testing kits being offered by the federal government as well as any number of federally qualified health sites offering COVID-19 testing, the need for the community-based sites has greatly diminished, the health department said.

Demand for tests at the community-based sites reached a peak of more than 1,040 tests per day at each site in November 2020.

Health officials said that the state is strongly positioned to respond to a potential surge, with the state stockpile of tests nearly fully replenished, the health department said. More than 1.5 million rapid tests are on hand, with half a million more on the way in the coming weeks.

The state has also instructed hospitals, schools and local health departments to consider their current testing capacity and take all preparations necessary, health officials said. The state is also in communication with pharmacies and health care providers about increasing their inventory of Food and Drug Administration-approved oral COVID-19 treatments in case of another surge.