More than four in ten people who tested positive for COVID-19 at one Peoria's three community-based testing sites were asymptomatic.
Sharon Adams, CEO of Heartland Health Services, said that plays a role in the decision to no longer require symptoms as a criteria to offer COVID-19 testing at the community-based sites.
"If we're going to get to the bottom of this and get through this, we need to know who is positive. And it's not taking symptoms to determine that," she said.
Adams encouraged everyone to get tested in an effort to better contain the virus.
Many of the 42 percent of people who tested positive for COVID-19 at one of the three Peoria COVID-19 collection sites without displaying any symptoms received their test under the old, more restrictive criteria.
"We've had a lot of healthcare workers come through, a lot of other front line - bus drivers, etc. We highly encourage it, especially if you're out there in the public and can be exposed to it and not know it," Adams said.
The community-based clinics turned up about a third of the Tri-County area's 204 confirmed COVID-19 cases. A fourth clinic at the Tazwood Center for Wellness in Pekin will open on Wednesday.
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