Janesville City Manager Mark Freitag hopes the third time is the charm for getting a local COVID-19 testing site.

He told the city council Monday night that the city applied two previous times for the state to set up coronavirus testing in Janesville.

The first request was denied. The second was approved, but Freitag said the approval came so late that the city couldn’t “execute it in a responsible fashion.”

His staff submitted a third request with the hope of getting the COVID-19 testing site up in the beginning October.

Freitag said that time frame would be a good gauge for the community a little over a month after Janesville schools are set to return to in-person instruction.

The Rock County Public Health Department said COVID-19 testing is currently available in the area through primary care providers, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies, Community Health Systems in Beloit, and the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

The Wisconsin National Guard previously conducted site-based testing in Janesville on June 8 and July 14-15. Their teams also offered community testing in Beloit from May 15-22.