The Tri-County region saw perhaps its largest one-day tally for COVID-19 testing at its community-based collection sites thus far on Wednesday.
Dr. Gregg Stoner, chief medical officer for Heartland Health Services, says 446 tests were used between the East Bluff and Pekin test sites. There were 223 tests conducted per site.
"It was an exact tie. So we were supposed to do 150 at a site in a day. That was supposed to be our maximum. But when there are people waiting in line, we still see them," he said.
Heartland Health Services recently broadened testing criteria to all adults - regardless of whether they show symmptoms of the coronavirus or not. More than 4 in 10 clients tested under the old, stricter criteria were asymptomatic.
There are four COVID-19 testing sites in Peoria and Pekin open on alternating days. A fifth, federally-funded site was due to open Friday, but those resources were allowed to remain in Bloomington for another week after lawmakers intervened.
Seventy-three percent of the Tri-County area's 222 reported COVID-19 cases are recovered. Another 17.6 percent are in home isolation, and 4.5 percent are hospitalized. Stoner said seven and 14-day trends are on the decline for hospitalization and ICU usage linked to the coronavirus.
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