IDPH halts certain mobile COVID-19 testing sites due to decline in attendees, officials confirm

The Illinois Department of Public Health is cutting back on COVID-19 mobile testing sites due to a decline in those taking advantage of the free testing services, confirmed Melaney Arnold, IDPH spokesperson Wednesday.

Local health department officials, who operate mobile testing sites in conjunction with the state health department, also confirmed sites in such places as the Sandwich Fair Grounds, previously scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday in DeKalb County, and regular testing at the Bureau County Fairgrounds in Princeton has also been halted.

DeKalb County Health Department spokesperson Melissa Edwards said she was not given further information as to why the Sandwich testing had been halted. Hector Gomez, director of the Bureau, Putnam and Marshall County Health Department said he was told the Bureau County Fairgrounds cancelation was due to low attendance.

According to the IDPH website, there remain fewer than 20 mobile testing sites operating currently in the state or in the next few days: in Bloomington, Decatur, East St. Louis, Cicero, Belleville, Blue Island, Melrose Park, Joliet and Mundelein.

Those wishing to find a COVID-19 testing site may also utilize pharmacies such as CVS or Walgreens.

Arnold said the IDPH is “fine tuning its targeted mobile testing operations,” as a result, and identifying specific areas to keep testing based on case data.

“This is in response to a decline in the number of people utilizing state supported testing sites and in preparation for the next phases of the pandemic response,” Arnold said. “IDPH is realigning its testing strategy to deploy mobile testing teams to locations with a high demand for testing, such as schools, processing plants, high risk workplaces, and other targeted locations.”

Locations for COVID-19 mobile testing teams can be found on the IDPH website at www.dph.illinois.gov/testing/mobile-testing-sites.

“By focusing on taking testing to where people are, we hope to increase the number of people being tested for COVID-19,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike in a statement provided by Arnold. “Testing is important to quickly identify individuals with COVID-19 to stop further spread of the virus. Our test positivity rate is currently low, and one way to keep it low is to identify infected individuals as quickly as possible so contact tracing efforts can identify close contacts who may have been exposed and have them quarantine so the virus does not spread further.”

Goldie Rapp, associate editor for Shaw Local News Network’s Bureau County Republican and Putnam County Record contributed to this report.