- Credibility:
LITTLE VILLAGE — After initially announcing plans to relocate a coronavirus testing site in Little Village, city officials will continue coronavirus testing at Saucedo Scholastic Academy School for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) said the city no longer planned to move the Little Village COVID-19 testing site from Saucedo Scholastic Academy School, 2850 W. 24th Blvd. to Farragut Career Academy High School, 2345 S. Christiana Ave.
Two days earlier, Rodriguez announced the site would move on Facebook. Testing was set to end at Saucedo on Friday and testing at Farragut was set to begin on Monday.
But community leaders raised concerns about how the move would impact the neighborhood, influencing the decision to keep testing at Saucedo for the “foreseeable future,” Rodriguez told Block Club.
Rodriguez received final confirmation the site would stay at Saucedo from the Chicago Department of Public Health on Wednesday morning, he said.
The city had been looking for a new testing site since the summer because at the time Chicago Public Schools were mulling over the idea of returning to school in some limited capacity.
The Chicago Department of Public Health initially planned on moving sites “due to potential conflicts with other scheduled activities at Saucedo,” said Erica Duncan, a spokeswoman for the department.
But after hearing concerns, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Mayor’s Office and Chicago Public Schools worked together to extend the testing at Saucedo until the end of December.
“We will revisit this again and may have to move earlier or later depending on the course of the pandemic,” Duncan said.
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