Chicago will create a new permanent coronavirus testing site at Midway Airport and direct $14 million in federal grants to help community health centers expand testing and contact tracing capabilities to stop a second surge of the pandemic.
Chicago’s positivity rate now stands at 15.9%. That’s up from 13.6% just a week ago. The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the city is 2,351, up 27% from a 1,853 daily average last week.
With the virus raging through the city in ways not seen since the onset of the pandemic, Mayor Lori Lightfoot responded by boosting Chicago’s testing capacity to reduce long lines at testing stations.
At a news conference Wednesday, Lightfoot said she has “listened to the community” that wanted more testing capacity on the Southwest Side.
“Chicago is setting new testing records every day and it is our highest priority to ensure that testing remains equitably accessible and available to Chicago’s most vulnerable residents,” the mayor was quoted as saying in a press release.
“We will continue to work with partners and direct resources to the communities [that] have been hit the hardest by this pandemic.”
The coronavirus testing center at Midway Airport, opening next week, will be Chicago’s fourth. It be open Tuesdays and Thursdays, from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The city’s existing testing site at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy will move to Charles A. Prosser Career Academy. All the city’s “static” testing sites will provide both drive-through and walk-up testing.
The $14 million in federal grants were awarded to the city by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The money will be used to help community health centers expand testing and contact tracing, through “materials, supplies, equipment and technical assistance.”
Already, the Chicago Department of Public Health has deployed over 40,000 “rapid antigen tests” to community health centers to bolster “rapid viral testing capacity.”
At Wednesday’s news conference, Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s health commissioner, said Chicago is breaking testing records every day — “and we need to be,” with the current surge.
Testing, Arwady said, now tops 16,000 a day.
