Episode 5: COVID Trickle-Down Effects: The Good, The Bad, And The Ponies

Host Gwen Macsai explores some of the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Episode 5 of Rising to The Challenge. She visits with University of Illinois Chicago family doctor Evelyn Figueroa who started a food pantry in her clinic and has seen a 50% rise in need since the coronavirus hit. University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Engineering Professor Bill King talks about the lightning-fast development of the RapidVent and potential new courses that may result like "engineering in an emergency," University of Illinois Springfield Professor Anne-Marie Hanson explains the impact of COVID waste on the environment, and Gwen takes a trip to the UIUC horse farm to find out what they did when 24 horses were about to give birth and the pandemic left them severely short-handed.

Rising to the Challenge is produced by the University of Illinois System with production support from Illinois Public Media. (The Illinois Public Media newsroom was not involved with this podcast.)