* The Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair checked out a National Guard drive-through testing facility in Chicago…
With all the various safety procedures and verification points, the process took about five minutes once cars enter the bay. The swab portion lasted as little as 35 seconds between the time Tanton offered her reassuring introduction and the drivers restarted their cars to exit. […]
The results take up to seven days to come back, Illinois National Guard spokesman Maj. A.J. Ruggieri said.
The troops averaged more than 60 tests an hour last Thursday, with the lines moving faster each day. Guard members stop as soon as they use 250 kits, the maximum number of the swabs permitted by the federal government, according to state officials.
On Saturday, the Guard also helped open a testing site in Bloomington in central Illinois. Testing there also tops out at 250 kits each day.
* Pritzker addressed both the 250 per day limit and the week-long lag for test results yesterday…
(D)ue to the federal government requiring federal personnel representation at our two state drive-throughs, we remain tied to a 250 test cap at each of these locations. We know there’s greater need at our longer running Harwood Heights site. We’ve been hitting 250 tests by just the early afternoon, and having to turn people away. We’d like to be able to test more than 400 people a day at these sites and think that we can. We have the capacity to do so. So we’re pushing the federal government to change their requirements and allow us to test more than 250 people were turning people away that we just shouldn’t have to. And we asked the federal government to remove their restriction.
We’re also pressuring the federal government on the return timelines of these tests. The private labs contracted by the federal government are taking four to seven days, sometimes even up to 10 days to turn around results. That is far too long. We’re doing it much faster in the state of Illinois, with the capacity that we have.
* Speaking of tests...
Five days ago, three state labs, four commercial facilities and 15 hospital labs processed 2,000 tests per day. The governor said that capacity is up to 4,000 daily with a goal of hitting 10,000 daily in the next 10 days.
“That marker is significant because it’s the number of tests per day that the scientists and experts tell us that we need to get a truly holistic understanding of the virus in each of our 102 counties,” Pritzker said. “…This 10,000-a-day marker will give us the data to run a more mathematically significant model that offers us improved insight into how well our interventions are working.” […]
“Ultimately, my goal is to reach a large enough testing capacity where we’re able to test everyone who needs a test on a regular basis,” Pritzker said. “… Every day we aren’t hitting 10,000 tests or more is another day that we’re not able to get answers that help us get past this current crisis.”
- ISPRETIRED - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 9:57 am:
Why do you need a kit. I have a Doctor that says all you need is the swab(Q-tip thing)a vile(test tube) and saline solution. Cost under a dollar. You then send off to lab.Haven’t seen anyone address this.
- very old soil - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:07 am:
What is the reasoning for the regulation requiring that a federal representative is present. And why do they only work 4 hours and 10 minutes a day?
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:22 am:
===I have a Doctor that says all you need is the swab(Q-tip thing)a vile(test tube) and saline solution. Cost under a dollar. You then send off to lab.Haven’t seen anyone address this.===
Doctors don’t usually process lab results.
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that your statement is 100% accurate. What process occurs between the specimen being collected and the result being provided?
From what I understand of the process, and as you might imagine, some very advance technical lab skills are required to turn a sample into a reliable result which creates a bottleneck on processing the results in addition to any amount of materials required.
The process also has to occur following very strict guidelines, and failing to do so is a violation of law.
- OOO - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:42 am:
Can someone who has interaction with the Governor’s Office or IDPH find out why such a large percentage of total tests being administered are coming back negative? If tests are in such short supply, and are to be reserved for those exhibiting symptoms, then why are 83% negative?
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:51 am:
We already have huge uncertainties. I will pile on. Not sure how reliable the tests are.
My daughter tested negative, but was told to act as if she tested positive because she showed so many symptoms.
- The Real Captain - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:54 am:
Local news (WGLT) only reported the Bloomington site did 70 tests the first day and I think they said just over 80 on the second day.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 10:55 am:
I bet this is viewed by some through a partisan lens: some people think the feds’ response shows that government is not the solution, and some people think the feds’ response shows that Trump is the problem. In this instance, the accurate answer is clear, but some people are gonna stick to their original message come hell or high water.
- illinifan - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 12:11 pm:
ISPretired “all you need is a q-tip”. I am going to guess that your work was not medically based. NPR notes this is the type of swab needed (and a q-tip is not it) ” The swabs have to be long and skinny enough to get to the nasopharynx, the upper part of the throat, behind the nose. They must be made of synthetic fiber and cannot have a wooden shaft. Nor can they contain calcium alginate, a substance typically used for swab tips in wound care, as that can kill the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
- Pundent - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 12:24 pm:
= I have a Doctor that says all you need is the swab(Q-tip thing)a vile(test tube) and saline solution.=
This is the kind of advice that results in people drinking aquarium cleaner. The last thing that we need are people rushing to the ER after they shoved who knows what up their nose.
At some point our ability to combat this will be facilitated by a simple at home test with instant results. Until then leave the testing to trained experts.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 12:36 pm:
Let’s be fair to this unnamed physician — taking the sample is the really easy and simple part of the testing.
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 12:37 pm:
hope the lack of testing being done at bloomington’s drivethru site reflects lack of need and not just sick people giving up on notion of seeking out medical help given reports of test shortages
- @OOO - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 12:44 pm:
The flu, RSV, pneumonia and other viruses may make people **think** they have carona. However, I thought they were suppposed to rule those out before giving a carona test…
- Downstate Illinois - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 1:12 pm:
The governor really needs to get his story straight when it comes to testing. From what local medical personnel (and my own health care clinic) tell me it’s his administration’s Department of Public Health telling local hospitals and clinics who they can and can’t test. If he’s going to whine about Washington it’s only fair to remind him of his responsibilities. The complaints I’ve heard don’t even deal with the state’s public labs but the private sector being held back specifically on orders by the state.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 1:13 pm:
=== If he’s going to whine about Washington===
He wouldn’t have to complain if DC was doing its freaking job.
- ISPEEVED - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 1:27 pm:
I not suggesting citizens do this test themselves. This is what this Doctor uses and then sends off to a lab like Quest. He knows how to collect, what products to use. His notion is to dispel sources that say they don’t have enough tests. There are plenty of tests for people who need them but not for people who want them.
- Pundent - Monday, Mar 30, 20 @ 1:27 pm:
=If he’s going to whine about Washington it’s only fair to remind him of his responsibilities.=
If 250 people need a test, 250 people can get a test. But don’t worry, this will miraculously be over soon.
- Lynn S. - Tuesday, Mar 31, 20 @ 1:18 am:
Why are the Feds restricting our drive-thru tests to 250/day? What is their reason/rationale for that number?
I have a cousin who is a ER nurse at a central Illinois hospital. (I won’t say which one, to protect her privacy.)
Emailed her last week just to check in. She is about to spit bullets, and stressed beyond belief. She’s almost worried sick over their supply of PPE, and when any replacements will come in.
She says they have to check with IDPH to do tests, and more often than not, request is refused, even if staff has high degree of certainty that patient has Covid-19.
So you’ve got to wonder how many folks with low degree of symptoms, or even asymptomatic, are out there spreading this around (not maliciously). We may be in for a really bad year…
- logic not emotion - Tuesday, Mar 31, 20 @ 10:22 am:
The main benefit of the tests is contact tracking. As mobile and widespread as it is now, that is of less benefit. People just have to assume it is widespread, implement the social distancing, stay home if they are sick, and follow all the other recommendations.