Quincy Reporter

A noticeable side effect of a spike in COVID-19 cases largely due to the omicron variant was the increased demand for testing, but Rep. Randy Frese (R-Paloma) has warned constituents to beware of scammers.

Frese issued an alert on his House website, where he also shared a link where people could learn how not to fall victim.

"Fake COVID testing sites and at-home tests are popping up across the United States," Frese said in the press release.

ABC 7 Chicago reported that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has asked the state's Attorney General to investigate claims of fraudulent testing sites that have popped up across Illinois.

"We intend to make sure those operations are no longer doing to customers and patients what they have been doing," Pritzker said, according to ABC 7 Chicago. 

Block Club Chicago has reported on the problems associated with these so-called testing sites that have popped up in the city. Robert McNees, of Rogers Park, told the organization it was "chaotic" when his family visited one of these popup testing sites in December. He said the site was busy and they weren't given clear instructions after being handed tests to perform themselves, so his family left.

"Just kind of given the chaos and everything, we thought that we probably wouldn’t be too confident in the results of the test, if we had collected it correctly or stored the sample correctly,” McNees told Book Club Chicago. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health has compiled a list of legitimate state-sponsored community-based testing sites that are available to the public which includes locations and hours on its website.

State officials have launched a new vaccination awareness campaign in an effort to encourage more people in Illinois to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It features a video from several Illinoisans who encourage those who haven't received the shot to consider doing so.