|
 "We are utilizing our incredible statewide network
of Federally Qualified Health Centers to launch new testing
locations in communities across Illinois", said Governor JB Pritzker.
"These new sites will feed specimens to our network of expanded
laboratory capacity. We have sites coming online across Chicago, the
Collar Counties, Peoria, and Southern Illinois with many more
centers expressing interest and working to get their operations up
and running."
EXPANSION OF TESTING
The state has partnered with Thermo Fisher to help improve testing
capacities at the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) labs
and across the state, and Thermo Fisher committed to prioritizing
Illinois in its supply chain management. IDPH’s five machines are
now up and running with reliable results. As Illinois ramps up
testing over the next week the state estimates a new capacity of
thousands more tests per day at state labs alone.
The governor also announced that the state has eliminated our supply
chain problems as they relate to viral transport medium (VTM) and
swabs. These raw materials are critical to helping labs expand the
number of specimens that can be collected and tested.
University partners of Illinois Tech, Southern Illinois University
at Carbondale, and the University of Illinois at Chicago and at
Urbana-Champaign, as well as outside vendors, have committed to
providing Illinois with an abundance of VTM and swabs that allows
the state to stock state labs, as well as support additional labs
throughout the state. Labs in need of supplemental VTM or swabs to
boost their in-house testing capacities can send requests through
their local Emergency Management Agencies.
In order to collect more specimens to meet our new capacity, the
governor announced that the state will be expanding testing through
its statewide network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FHQCs).
In coordination with the Illinois Primary Healthcare Association,
Illinois surveyed centers to gauge their interest in helping
Illinois expand testing and is now working with dozens of centers to
begin taking specimens.
Sites that will be coming online include TCA Health in Roseland and
Chatham; Howard Brown locations in Chicago’s Englewood, Hyde Park,
Austin and Little Village; Heartland Alliance Health in Chicago;
Aunt Martha’s in Chicago Heights, Harvey, Joliet, Kankakee,
Danville, and Chicago’s South Side; the Erie Family Health Centers
in the Evanston-Skokie region, Humboldt Park, and Waukegan; Quorum
Health in Waukegan; VNA Healthcare in Aurora, Carol Stream,
Romeoville and Elgin; Heartland Health Services in Peoria; and
Christopher Greater Area Rural Health, which will have 9-12 sites
across Southern Illinois. Dozens more are
working to bring their operations online in the coming days. For the
most up-to-date list of these sites, visit coronavirus.illinois.gov.
There residents can also find information on eligibility for testing
and contact information for each testing site.
[to top of second column] |
 In order to keep expanding testing across
communities, the governor announced an expansion of the State of
Illinois’ recommended testing criteria to include all those who are
experiencing COVID-like symptoms. This new guidance will apply to
state-run drive through testing centers and will be offered to
medical providers across Illinois. Two days
ago, Illinois opened its third state drive-through site. The new
site in Markham took over 600 specimens on its first day of
operation. With this new site, our three drive-throughs now have the
ability to run up to 1,800 tests per day. We are thankful to our
partners at Northshore University Hospital in Evanston, IL and
Reditus Laboratories in Pekin, IL, who are committed to quick
turnaround times for these state-run drive-through sites.
The state continues to urge people with mild symptoms to call their
medical provider before seeking a COVID-19 test.
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT UPDATE
The state has now delivered PPE from the state stockpile to all 102
counties, including local Emergency Management Agencies, all
Regional Health Care Coalitions, and local health departments. The
state stockpile supports the existing PPE supply chains and stocks
at various healthcare facilities.
In sum, the state has sent out more than 5
million surgical masks, over 1.5 million N95 masks, nearly 20,000
gowns, over 4 million gloves, and nearly 200,000 face shields.
|
Total Shipped Out (As of April 15) |
|
|
N95 Masks |
1,542,959 |
|
Surgical Masks |
5,083,148 |
|
Gowns & Coveralls |
19,191 |
|
Gloves |
4,220,488 |
|
Face Shields |
175,190 |
The state has also been able to procure an additional
28 million N95 and KN95 masks, 29 million surgical and disposable
masks, 8.4 million gowns and coveralls, 27 million gloves and 7.5
million face shields and goggles. This PPE will be received over the
coming weeks.
|
Total Procured (As of April 15) |
|
|
N95 + K95 Masks |
28,385,420 |
|
Surgical & Disposable Masks |
29,901,000 |
|
Gowns & Coveralls |
8,428,012 |
|
Gloves |
27,663,520 |
|
Face Shields, Goggles & Glasses |
7,581,754 |
The statewide 10-day PPE burn rate is under 1.5
million N95 masks, 25 million gloves, 4.4 million gowns and 700,000
surgical masks for hospitals and long-term care facilities, with
small set-asides for law enforcement and essential state workers.
[Office of the Governor JB Pritzker |
