Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday the opening of two new sample collection sites in Aurora and Rockford as part of his ongoing effort to boost COVID-19 testing in Illinois.

The Aurora site is located at the Chicago Premium Outlets outdoor mall.

The Rockford site is located at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford location.

Combined, they can collect 1,100 samples for testing daily.

The governor has made it a point in recent briefings to distinguish between the sample collection sites and actual laboratory testing. The drive-up sites are where samples are collected and then sent to a lab for processing to see if someone has the virus.

“These tests are just swabs until a lab professional turns them into results,” Pritzker said, noting that this week is the annual celebration of laboratory professionals week.

Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike reported the latest numbers.

There are 2,049 new positive cases. The statewide total so far is 35,018.

There were 98 additional deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing total fatalities to 1,565.

Gov. Pritzker said discussions continue about safe ways to begin to re-open the economy.

But, he added that Illinois continues to see more COVID-19 patients in hospital beds and we aren’t there yet.

“You don’t want to be on this side of the curve,” he said.

He pointed out that if and when the stay-at-home order lifts, COVID-19 will still be out there and social distancing will still need to be practiced.

The governor was asked whether he supports Mitch McConnell’s idea of letting states seek bankruptcy protection to alieve pension debts and other responsibilities rather than get federal aid.

“No,” Pritzker replied.