Mayor Lightfoot: COVID-19 'Testing Network' Opens In Chicago This Week

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the opening of half a dozen more COVID-19 testing sites through out the city with at least one to be dedicated to first responders.

The mayor said the addition of the new sites will add more testing events to provide data to detail the rate of COVID-19 infections. Lightfoot said right now, the city can approximately provide 3,000 tests daily. That number could go up to 10,000 by the end of the month with the new testing sites in place.

"We're specifically focusing community-based sites in neighborhoods experiencing disproportionately high levels of cases," Lightfoot said. "The city will be directly responsible for providing supports for testing sites, including staffing for site management, safety and security, traffic, CORE and public housing supports."

Two sites will open this week Salcedo Elementary School in Little Village and Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy in the Belmont Cragen neighborhood. A site where the White Sox play, Guaranteed Rate Field, will be for first responsers.

"Our collaborative model between local government and community organizations has proven to be expeditious to set up and efficient to execute," said CORE Co-founders Sean Penn and Ann Lee. "We applaud Mayor Lightfoot for leading the effort to bring these testing sites to Chicago's underserved communities while also providing critical testing to front line workers and first responders."

Visit the city's COVID-19 page for more information on the testing sites.

"Testing remains one of the most powerful mechanisms for us to understand the complexities of COVID-19 and its spread in the community," said Dr. Arwady. "This creative solution will allow the City to increase testing capacity without putting additional stress on resources that are in limited demand, while allowing Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to also increase efforts so we can reach a critical mass of tests."

During the daily coronavirus briefing, Lightfoot said she was disappointed with news that a Chicago church looked to be defying social distancing orders during its weekend service.

"We put these measures in play because we know that gathering in congregate settings is exactly the breeding ground for the setting. We've seen that," Lightfoot said. "I reached out to the pastor, had a very pleasant conversation with him. We're going to speak at a mutually convenient time. I intend to share with him our concerns. My approach always is to bring people into compliance through education and dialog. And I'm hoping that will be successful."

When asked why the city won't shut down the church outright, Lightfoot said she's not going to send in police to arrest churchgoers.

"People are expressing their faith and I understand that. But it's a mistake to gather in large congregant settings. Particularly if you have an underlying medical condition. We don't want to take more aggressive measures unless we're forced to do that because people are defying it. We're not going to have a circumstance where people are blatantly ignoring the rules put in place to help save people's lives."

The mayor was also asked about a proposal from the Chicago Teachers Union to discuss smaller class sizes for the upcoming school year. Lighfoot said no.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Lightfoot said. "We're not going to reopen the bargaining agreement. We forged an agreement last fall. We're not going to reopen that agreement."

This is a developing story.