The Illinois Department of Public Health and SHIELD Illinois will offer free COVID-19 tests for all Illinois public schools outside of Chicago in the 2022-23 school year.

SHIELD Illinois provides on-demand, saliva-based PCR tests through weekly screening testing at Illinois schools, businesses and government agencies.

The University of Illinois' non-profit, in-state COVID-19 testing unit, SHIELD Illinois has administered 6.4 million tests as of this month, according to a news release.

Schools interested in renewing with SHIELD or beginning a partnership should sign up by July 15 in order to guarantee testing on the first day of school.

Organizations inside Illinois who are interested in using the SHIELD saliva test should visit <a href="http://go.uillinois.edu/startSHIELD" target="_blank">go.uillinois.edu/startSHIELD</a>.

Interested organizations outside of Illinois should contact Shield T3 at <a href="http://shieldt3.com" target="_blank">shieldt3.com</a> or email <a href="mailto:inquiries@shieldt3.com" target="_blank">inquiries@shieldt3.com</a>.

“Schools remain an important place for testing and preventing the spread of infection,” said Interim IDPH Director Amaal Tokars in the release.

“We want to do everything possible to prevent sickness among our children, which is why this renewal and continued testing is critical.”

SHIELD Illinois provided testing for about 1 million students and staff in K-12 schools during the 2021-22 school year, along with 57 community colleges and universities and numerous businesses and government agencies.

It also opened 48 free community testing sites.

So far in 2022, SHIELD Illinois has supplied results for its gold-standard PCR tests on average 16 hours from the time of collection.

“We are honored to renew our partnership with the state for another school year as this pandemic continues to demonstrate a high level of unpredictability and an ongoing need for quick, reliable testing,” said University of Illinois System President Timothy Killeen in the release.

Testing in Illinois is paid for with federal funds from the CARES Act, American Rescue Plan and Operation Expanded Testing.

Federal funding for public school testing in Illinois comes from IDPH and the Midwest Coordination Center. Federal funding for testing in private schools comes from the Midwest Coordination Center.

A separate testing agreement with the Chicago Department of Public Health covers testing in non-CPS schools in Chicago, including private, parochial and charter schools. Chicago Public Schools are not included because they are receiving direct federal funding for their own testing program.