The University of Illinois Springfield Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free virtual public webinar titled “A Long and Winding Road: How COVID-19 Has Evolved and How the Current Wave of Infections is Affecting Patients and the People and Institutions Who Care for Them” at Noon Friday, Jan. 21 via Zoom.

In recent months Sangamon County and the State of Illinois has experienced the highest numbers of daily COVID-19 infections of any time during this pandemic. The social, economic and mental health effects of this recent wave of infections on people who are infected, on our health care institutions and on the health care workers who are called upon to respond, have been significant. Expert panelists will review how we got to this point, and how the new wave of infections has affected patients, our health care institutions and the people who make up our health care workforce in Sangamon County and Illinois.

Panelists include Dr. Vidya Sundareshan, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and medical advisor to the Sangamon County Department of Public Health, and Dr. Marc Shelton, senior vice president and chief clinical officer for the Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS). The discussion will be moderated by Molly Lamb, executive director of the UIS Center of State Policy and Leadership.

In order to attend the event, please register online at go.uis.edu/COVIDwebinar. A Zoom link will be emailed to those who register.

For more information, contact Molly Lamb at 217-206-8622 or mehle01s@uis.edu.