No end in sight to more testing sites
With demand high, they keep popping up in south suburbs
While usually focused on treating children’s ailments, Alzein Pediatrics’ staff in recent weeks were getting questions from children’s parents and grandparents about where they could go for COVID-19 testing.
“We had a lot of patients looking for places to get tested out of concern about being around their children or grandchildren,” said Marie Armstrong, clinical manager for the practice, which has offices in Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn.
Alzein partnered with the village of Crestwood to open a drive-through testing center at the Crestwood Civic Center, 14025 S. Kostner Ave. It opened Nov. 30 and has the capacity to conduct 200 tests daily.
As the promised rollout of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus nears, testing centers remain busy this holiday season following a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
This week a drive-through testing site opened in Hazel Crest, and South Suburban College said its contract with the state to provide free testing at its South Holland campus has been extended through April 30.
Tinley Park trustees will consider a proposal this month to convert a shuttered vehicle emissions test site into a drive-through facility for COVID-19 testing
Many area sites, including the Hazel Crest and South Holland facilities, offer testing at no charge. Alzein’s site offers free testing for people without insurance coverage.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is covering the cost of testing at free sites and in instances when a person lacks insurance.
The site at the Hazel Crest Family Center, 16990 S. Dixie Highway, opened thisweek with testing offered from11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Testing is available to Hazel Crest residents aswell as to nonresidents.
“We’ve had a lot of people so far,” said Carolyn Carter, Hazel Crest’s director of community and business relations, said.
Molecular Diagnostic Labs, which is doing the testing, is using a saliva test rather than a nasal or throat swab. In some instances test results are available in 24 hours, she said.
Originally established this summer and initially staffed by the Illinois National Guard, the testing site at South Suburban College, 15800 S. State St., is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days aweek.
The college earlier this fall signed a new intergovernmental agreement with the state health department to continue testing through the end of the year and recently extended it through April, according to Patrick Rush, the college’s executive director of public relations and development.
He said demand for free testing has been steady.
“Whenwe sawthe resurgence a couple weeks ago the lines were pretty long,” he said.
While the public is told they might see results in four to seven days, Rush said turnaround times in many instances have been much shorter.
Alzein’s site is using nasal and throat swabs for its testing, which it says is nearly 100% accurate. Tests are offered 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
It is requiring appointments, which can be made at alzeinpeds. com or he ma to gen ix. com by selecting the Crest wood site. Tinley Park-based Hematogenix Laboratory Services is conducting the tests.
While nasal swabs have been the more prevalent form of testing, the newly introduced saliva test results are reported tobe good and compare well with the nasal tests, said Dr. Rachel Rubin, senior public health medical officer with the Cook County Department of PublicHealth.
How quickly results are received, whether it is a nasal or saliva, depends on the capacity of the lab doing the testing, Rubin said.
Hematogenix, which is offering COVID-19 testing at its headquarters, 8150W. 185th St., Tinley Park, said that it is able to get test results in 48 hours.
Founded 14 years ago, the company has focused on cancer research and diagnostics, and has since expanded to have a presence in the United Kingdom, Europe and China.
In October the company said it had joined a COVID-19 testing industry consortium led by pharmaceutical giant BristolMyers Squibb that is intended to accelerate research into coronavirus testing.
Other companies that are part of the group include GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Takeda Pharmaceutical.
Hematogenix began offering drive- through COVID-19 testing about a month ago, according to Kimberly Smith, associate director of biomarker discovery and development for the firm.
She said that, on average, Hematogenix is taking 250 samples a day and has so far run more than 5,000 tests.
“We felt like we wanted to support our community and make testing available to everybody,” Smith said.
The company considered using the saliva test, which is less obtrusive, but that test results were more consistent with the nasal and throat swabs, she said.
Not far from Hematogenix, an Oak Lawn health care company, SMS Medical, wants to convert a former vehicle emissions test site in a Tinley Park industrial area into a drivethrough COVID-19 testing facility.
Tinley Park’s Plan Commission voted earlier this month to recommend the Village Board approve the use, which the board will consider at its Tuesday meeting.
The emissions site, 7460 Duvan Drive, was closed in 2016 and has been unused since. SMS Medical also offers COVID-19 testing at its Oak Lawn location, 5533 W. 95th St.