NORTHLAKE (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A drive-thru COVID-19 test site in a north suburban Walmart parking lot is set to close Friday afternoon after less than two weeks of operation.
The Northlake test center at 137 W. North Ave. will be consolidated with another coronavirus test site at a Walmart in Joliet, Northlake police said in a statement.
The Joliet site, 2424 W. Jefferson St., will remain open to first responders, health care workers and people with symptoms who are 65 or older, police said.
A Walmart spokesperson said the Northlake site was closed in response to the opening of a state-run test site at 6959 Forest Preserve Dr. on the Northwest Side of Chicago.
"With the state site opening at Forest Preserve, just eight miles away from Northlake, we are closing the Northlake testing site and moving our resources to Joliet … ," Walmart spokesperson Marilee McInnis said in an email.
The two Walmart site have completed nearly 3,000 tests, McInnis said.
"We appreciate the city of Northlake for their support, and we look forward to continuing to serve Joliet," McInnis said.
The Joliet and Northlake test sites opened March 22 to first responders, and were the first test sites in the county opened by Walmart and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
On Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that Abbott Labs would send the state 15 rapid COVID-19 testing machines that can give positive test results in five minutes. The machines are expected to be used in urgent care centers.
As of Thursday, 7,695 of the 43,656 tested for COVID-19 in Illinois have been positive, with 157 succumbing to the disease.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2020. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
