The Fulton County COVID-19 Task Force is pleased to announce drive thru COVID-19 Testing coming to Canton and Lewistown. The goal of this 2-day event is to help make testing available to anyone no matter if they are showing symptoms or income. The testing is open to anyone and is at no cost. Those with health insurance cards are asked to bring them, but there is no cost or co-pay. For anyone under the age of 18 they must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. The testing site is being operated by the Illinois Department Of Health. The testing procedure is a simple nose swab and results will be available in 4 to 7 days from the Illinois Department Of Health. Testing is open to anyone, not just Fulton County Residents.
The first drive thru testing site will be located in Canton at the High School, 1001 N Main in Canton on November 2nd from 9 AM to 5 PM. Participants are asked to enter the High School off North Main and drive into the main lot on the south side of the school. Those being tested will be asked to remain in their cars unless directed by staff from the Illinois Department Of Health. There is no testing inside of the High School buildings.
The second drive thru testing site will be located at the Fulton County Farm Bureau at 15411 N IL 100 in Lewistown on November 3rd from 9 AM to 5 PM. Participants will be asked to enter the south entrance, drive thru and exit the north entrance. Those being tested will be asked to remain in their cars unless directed by staff from the Illinois Department Of Health. There is no testing inside of the Farm Bureau Office.
“The drive thru testing is something we’ve wanted to launch once our positivity numbers started to increase. Once the numbers began to increase, we immediately set out plan to bring this resource to the most valuable team members, the residents of our County. Our goal on this is to make testing available to every County Resident no matter their income or if they show symptoms. We don’t want anyone in our County concerned if Final they are positive or if they have any doubts. We’re going to do everything we can to help keep our residents safe and informed. If a resident wants a test – we’re going to get them a test-. To set all of this up we needed some highly visible and easily accessible sites. The Canton site was an easy selection and Canton School District Rolf Sivertsen has been on the leadership team since day one. The Superintendent immediately offered the high school to help with this process. When we reached out to Elaine Stone at the Farm Bureau to set this up, she immediately responded with being all in to help with this. Her work in the County is outstanding and she does a lot for our communities that people don’t really know. We also can’t leave out the work of the Health Department through this event. I’m proud of the Fulton County Health Department for arranging this and hope our residents take advantage of the testing. If this turns out to be a high demand event, we’ll work with the Fulton County COVID-19 Task Force to bring this back and do another testing event. Furthermore, Graham Medical is expanding their testing hours and options for our residents. Right now, our best tool is testing and following social distancing guidelines as outlined by our local health department and the IDPH.” Says Patrick O’Brian Fulton County Board Chair.
Canton Mayor Kent McDowell echoed Chairman O’Brian’s sentiments. “The drive-thru testing site is extremely valuable for all the citizens of Fulton County,” he said. “The Fulton County Covid-19 Task Force has been preparing for the time when we may need to provide our residents with this opportunity. Graham Hospital has done a great job of acquiring and providing testing for our county residents but the drive-thru site should give us a much better idea of exactly how COVID-19 has affected our county. I would encourage our residents to take advantage of this opportunity to be tested in this simple manner.
“The task force has worked very hard since the beginning of this pandemic to provide Fulton County’s residents with up-to-date information, testing and other services,” said Mayor McDowell. “We hope to be able to provide this testing again in the future until such time as there is no longer a need.”
The Fulton County COVID-19 Task Force is made up of community leaders from within Fulton County. The task force members include City Of Canton Mayor Kent McDowell and Public Safety Director Richard Fairburn; County Of Fulton Chairman Patrick O’Brian and Treasurer Staci Mayall; Fulton County Regional Office Of Education, Regional Superintendent John Meixner and Dave Demler; Fulton County Emergency Medical Association Director Andrew Thornton; Fulton County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Jeff Standard; Canton School District Superintendent Rolf Sivertsen; Fulton County Coroner’s Office, Coroner Steve Hines; Fulton County States Attorney Justin Jochums; Fulton County Health Department Administrator Katie Lynn; Spoon River College President Curt Oldfield; Illinois DCEO Tony Rolando; and Fulton County ESDA Director and 911 Coordinator Chris Helle. “This is something we built out in March of this year. I knew this pandemic would stretch our resources thin so we needed to have everyone at one table and our key leadership to help guide this event. Without this team I don’t think we would have had the response and planning that we have had. This team is the best of the best. Additionally, I’d really like to thank Senator Dave Koehler for his help during this time. He’s been on the phone with us practically daily and offered his full assistance. Through this pandemic we have been conducting regular conference calls and email updates with all of the mayors within Fulton County. Also having Mayor McDowell plugged into this and helping lead this, it’s frankly been invaluable.” says Fulton County Chairman Patrick O’Brian.
As of October 26th , Fulton County is sitting at a 5.98% positivity rating. If the County exceeds 8% it will result in Fulton County being placed on “warning status” from the Illinois Department of Health. Furthermore, the Illinois Department of Health may be announcing a potential role back of a phase from Governor’s Restore Illinois Plan. This potential role back would be the result of the region seeing a large-scale increase in positivity ratings.
The County of Fulton has launched a website to help keep residents informed of specific impacts within Fulton County. This page is designed to be the informational hub for the Fulton County COVID-19 response, press releases, information for area residents, and links to CDC and IDPH information. This page will be updated as new information becomes available. The page can be found at www.fultonco.org and clicking on “Fulton County COVID-19 Information Site”.
Additionally, the Fulton County Health Department is publishing daily updates on their social media page: https://www.facebook.com/FultonCHD/.
Any urgent alerts will also be posted on that page and the Fulton County ESDA page at https://www.facebook.com/fultoncountyesda/
The Illinois Department of Public Health has set up a hotline and email for the public to use for general questions.
The hotline number is 1-800-889-3931 and the email is [email protected].
For current up to date information, please go to www.CDC.gov or www.DPH.Illinois.gov.
Fulton County Health Department staff can be reached after hours for emergency issues by calling the Fulton County Sherriff’s Department at 309-547-2277.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has set up a hotline and email for the public to call with general questions. The hotline number is 1-800-889-3931 and the email is [email protected].