Chicago opening 6 new testing sites pivotal to reopening Chicago economy

With help from Rainbow PUSH, the city is forging a testing partnership with a humanitarian relief organization founded by Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn.

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Piet DeVries, representing the COVID-19 Relief Effort speaks during Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus update for the City of Chicago, Monday, May 11, 2020.

Piet DeVries, a consultant to the Community Organized Relief Effort, speaks during Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus briefing Monday.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday forged a partnership with a humanitarian organization created by Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn to open six new testing sites pivotal to slowly reopening the Chicago economy.

To graduate to phase three of the mayor’s five-step reopening plan, the city needs to test at least 5 percent of its residents every month. That means a 50 percent increase by the end of the month — from roughly 3,000 tests a month currently to 5,000, with a longer-term testing goal of 10,000 tests monthly.

The partnership between City Hall and Penn’s Community Organized Relief Effort will help make it happen.

It was brokered by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the founder of Rainbow PUSH who has been working with Penn for years to bring humanitarian relief to disaster sites around the world, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

One of the six new testing sites — at Guaranteed Rate Field — will be drive-thru only and earmarked for first responders, even those with no symptoms of the virus.

The other five sites will take walk-ups and be reserved for Chicagoans exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. The locations were chosen for their accessibility and proximity to African American and Hispanic neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of the deaths from the coronavirus.

The testing sites are Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy in Little Village; Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academies in Hanson Park; Kennedy-King College in Englewood; Senka Park in Gage Park; and at Gately Park in Pullman.

At all six sites, CORE will help the city find and purchase testing supplies and supervise operations, including recruiting and hiring staff and overseeing testing and security.  

Curative-Korva will help procure testing materials and manage lab testing and data reporting. The company will also help the city create a test registration site.

Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the partnership with CORE and Curative will allow the city to “fill the gap” in testing needed to start “cautiously reopening” Chicago.

And since it uses a different kind of test for the coronavirus, it will help solve some of the shortages of testing supplies that have hampered the city’s efforts at nearly 100 sites, she said.

“Instead of requiring a health care provider to do a very deep swab back in the back of the nose, this testing is actually an oral swab. The patient coughs and then self-administers a swab, wiping it inside the mouth to collect saliva, putting it into a tube, sealing the tube and then, we ship that tube back to the Curative lab to be able to do the testing,” Arwady said.

“It requires much less PPE. It requires less health care workers. ... It has less risk to health care workers and patient exposure. But most importantly for the challenges we’ve been having here, it uses a different supply chain than our typical test kits.”

CORE consultant Piet DeVries said the humanitarian organization Penn founded to marshal resources to Haiti has already helped Los Angeles respond to the pandemic.

“They had set up their initial testing sites using the fire department and other first responders and it was taking away from that critical work effort. So, we stepped in and, under their guidance, took over those testing spots and then expanded them significantly,” DeVries said.

“We’re currently operating seven sites in Los Angeles and testing 7,000 people a day. We then expanded into northern California and, most recently, into Atlanta where I just came from.”

DeVries said CORE works closely with the community and government to rapidly expand testing capacity. Rainbow PUSH is helping with community engagement, he said.

Yusef Jackson said Rainbow PUSH has “known CORE for a long time,” having “met them on the frontlines fighting the disaster in Haiti.

“It’s an honor to bring them to Chicago neighborhoods — especially the ones disproportionately affected by this horrible, horrible crisis,” he said.

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