Chatham site opens to test for COVID-19, open daily with special accommodations for essential workers

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As the rate of positive tests continues to drop statewide, a new COVID-19 testing site opened Saturday morning in one of the Chicago's hardest hit neighborhoods.

Cars lined up early Saturday morning at a Chatham movie theater, just one of four new drive-up testing sites in the state.

The Chatham testing site is located in the parking lot of Studio Movie Grill, 210 W. 87th St., Chicago.

The site is able to handle 750 tests per day, according to an Illinois Army National Guard official.

The guard stressed that the site is only equipped to test people in vehicles with functioning windows and is not a walk-up site.

The test used at the Chatham site is a less intrusive nasal swab that allows people to test themselves, limiting the contact with the medical team and saving PPE.

The effort is part of Governor JB Pritzker's continued push to test more and more people.

Over the last week, an average of 20,000 tests were performed daily in Illinois.

With the declining positivity rate, the entire state is on track to reach Phase 3, "Recovery," at the end of May.

Pritzker stressed Friday that he will continue to further the state's effort to increase COVID-19 testing.