Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Media advisory: Coronavirus forum on campus Tuesday to discuss local response

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Local health officials will discuss the coordinated local response to the global coronavirus concern at a forum on the University of Illinois campus Tuesday.

The forum will take place at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, at the Fire Service Institute, 11 Gerty Drive, Champaign. Consistent with the flow of information between local agencies, three key officials will be featured onstage to answer questions, with additional experts also available onsite for interviews.

The featured experts are:

  • Robert Parker, the director of the U. of I. McKinley Health Center.
  • Janet Jokela, the acting regional dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana.
  • Julie Pryde, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District administrator.

Questions will be moderated during the presentation, but officials will be available for individual interviews.  

McKinley Health Center has evaluated one person with possible coronavirus symptoms, but determined the person did not have the illness. McKinley officials contacted all students with a known connection to Wuhan City, China, which is the reported origin of the outbreak. Some students did not travel at semester break and others are either refraining from going to class, closely monitoring their symptoms or wearing surgical masks around other people.

Editor’s note: For additional information, contact Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs, 217-333-5010, rkaler@illinois.edu

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