Dirksen courthouse opens COVID community testing site
CHICAGO - The U.S. District Court will be hosting a free community COVID testing site in the lobby of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in the Loop.
The site will be open from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day except for federal holidays.
Residents will need to register for an appointment through a portal called SHIELD Illinois with the agency code df5brbrj.
If you don't have a computer or internet, don't worry. There will be a computer available on-site to make the appointment.
"With the increased number of COVID-19 cases and rise in the highly transmissible Omicron variant in Illinois, our community has a great need for convenient, fast, and free COVID-19 testing," Chief Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer said in a statement. "The Dirksen Courthouse stands in downtown Chicago and serves the public. In light of our mission, and our proximity to public transportation and government and private office buildings, the Courthouse is an ideal location to offer testing to members of the public."
The site uses the PCR test which was developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Results come back within 24-48 hours.