McLean County Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave inaccurate information on why a Bloomington COVID-19 testing site is closing, according to WBCU. 

The site closed on Thursday, but will be relocated. State officials said the site was underused, which is why it is being moved to Peoria. However, Pritzker said in a briefing that there are multiple areas in Bloomington to be tested.

“It’s important to note there are multiple locations that are available to people in Bloomington," Pritzker said in the briefing. "It’s one of the reasons that there were only about 26 people a day going to the drive-thru. These drive-thrus in the rest of the state are getting 500 to 600 cars a day. We want to make sure that the most effective locations are chosen. And make sure people have the ability to get tested, since Bloomington does have a number of locations already available, we want to make sure we find other drive-through settings that will allow us to capture more and more tests."

The only problem with the governor saying there are multiple areas is that most of them are not testing sites where an individual can just show up at, according to WBCU. The other two locations in the area have strict rules on who can be tested, while the Bloomington site was a drive-thru testing site and didn't have limitations, according to WBCU.

Pritzker claiming only 26 people a day are tested at the site is inaccurate as well. The average for the Bloomington site was 108 people being tested per day, according to WBCU. After April 29, the daily average increased to 134 due to tearing criteria restrictions being loosened.

While the Bloomington site is closing, Advocate Aurora Health is expanding emergency testing, which now includes mothers in labor, according to WBCU.

“We do not have capacity for open community testing at this time,” Advocate spokesperson Lynn Hutley told WBCU. “Testing continues to be a fluid situation and we will evaluate and adjust our policies and procedures as needed.”