For a second time, the COVID-19 testing site in Rock Island has been extended. First it was going to be open at the QCCA Expo Center for two weeks, ending Friday (7/10), then it was going to be open through this weekend, and now it'll be here an additional week.
Nita Ludwig, Administrator of the Rock Island County Health Department, says more than 260 people are being tested every day.
"Right now the state is saying our positivity rate is about 6.2 per cent. So that's under the target of 10 per cent which is good, but it's still higher than we would like it to be."
The target set by the Illinois Department of Public Health is 10 per cent or less, and the state average for all of its testing sites is now around 3 per cent.
And it worries Ludwig that the number of local COVID-19 cases is going up.
"Our numbers were going down in May and June and then they started going back up over the last couple of weeks. And truly we don't know what the outcome is going to be of the July 4th Holiday, probably for a few more days."
She says Rock Island County is now reporting 23 new cases every day, and 11 people are currently hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. Contact tracing shows many of the new infections are showing up in young people, in their 20's and 30's.
The test site in Rock Island will stay open every day through Sunday July 19th, from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm.
