AURORA (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The City of Aurora and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Tuesday the reopening and relocation of the COVID-19 Community Based Testing Site in Aurora, just one day after closing operations at the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall.
The Aurora COVID-19 Community Based Test Site testing site has been relocated to 2450 N. Farnsworth Ave. in Aurora, directly across from the Chicago Premium Outlets.
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 30, the site will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Testing is free and available to all regardless of age, COVID-19 symptoms, or insurance status. A parent or guardian must be present and able to provide consent for individuals under the age of 18.
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Aurora officials said the city was home to the first COVID-19 Community Based Test Site opened by the State of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Public Health outside of the City of Chicago, shortly after the pandemic began. The test site at the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall allowed for anyone in Aurora and the western suburbs to have easy and convenient access to free drive-thru testing. The site administered approximately 70,000 tests in five months.
The new Aurora testing site will continue to serve the state’s second-largest city and the outer suburbs of Chicago, being the third-most active site in the Northeast region. Allowing for even greater accessibility to the Farnsworth Avenue corridor, the site could test up to 1,000 people per day at peak capacity, officials said.
“Our goal is to make testing more readily available and easier to access,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Testing is essential to identifying the prevalence of virus circulating in our communities. Through widespread testing, we can make science-based decisions that will help us safely reopen the state.”
Ten community-based testing sites are open daily throughout Illinois, providing an average of 25,000 free tests throughout the state. To date, more than 5.5 million COVID-19 tests have been reported in Illinois.
Mayor Irvin plans for the new site to not only serve as a testing center for the region, but also a vaccination center in the future.
“As we all continue to work together to stop the spread of COVID-19, we know the next critical step is finding and administering a vaccine,” Irvin said. “With the newly relocated site, Aurora stands at the ready to do both.”
The Aurora City Council will vote on the final Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Aurora and the State of Illinois during a Special City Council Meeting tonight at 5 p.m.