Aurora COVID-19 Testing Site Expands Operations To 6 Days A Week
AURORA, IL — As omicron cases continue to rise, Aurora's COVID-19 testing site will be among the state's community-based sites to increase its hours of operation to six days a week starting the week of Jan. 3.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the extended hours during a Monday news conference, where he also discussed plans to add at least 100 additional staff to regional sites, more than doubling state personnel, Patch reported.
Aurora's testing site, located at 2450 N. Farnsworth Ave., across from the Chicago Premium Outlets, has previously been open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Extended hours will include Tuesday and Thursday.
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Drive-through and walk-up testing are free regardless of age, symptoms or insurance status. Aurora's location is also one of the state facilities that offers vaccines in addition to testing.
As people gather for the holidays, state officials warned COVID-19 would find its way into parties and encouraged people to get vaccinated or get boosted. Although omicron cases continue to rise — with 177 reported in Illinois as of Monday — Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said most new COVID-19 infections are a result of the delta variant, Patch reported.
"I know that the reports are saying that [omicron is] less severe," she said in Monday's news conference. "Maybe that is true for the masses. Again, we are new to this. We've had this in our state probably only reported for the last couple of weeks, so we need more data."
Next door, in Batavia, Kane County Health Department officials recently announced the Kane Vax Hub, which offers all three COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, would stay open through the end of January, Patch reported. The site, at 501 N. Randall Road, was originally scheduled to close in early January.
This article originally appeared on the Aurora Patch
