College of Lake County offers free saliva-based COVID testing

As the COVID-19 Delta variant starts to become more widespread across the country, College of Lake County (CLC) reminds the community of the free walk-in testing available at the University Center of Lake County (UCLC), located at the Grayslake campus, 1200 University Center Drive near the Washington Street entrance.

CLC is partnered with SHIELD Illinois to administer saliva-based COVID-19 tests. The testing is free and open to CLC students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

Testing is available Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and takes place in room 112 of the UCLC. While the testing is walk-in, you must sign up for an account with SHIELD Illinois before arriving.

To register, use the following agency codes:

• Public Community: df5brbrj
• CLC Student: s0fkdepl-stu
• CLC Faculty and Staff: s0fkdepl-empl

Results are typically available within 24 hours and can be viewed in the MySHIELD patient portal.

A photo ID is also required. To avoid a possible inconclusive result, avoid eating, drinking, brushing your teeth, using mouthwash, chewing gum and using tobaccos for at least one hour before submitting your saliva sample.

The saliva-based COVID-19 test is non-invasive, only requiring the individual to deposit a saliva sample into a vial.