CHAMPAIGN – At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began meeting daily with health care professionals from Carle Health System to discuss how to meet urgent needs in the health care community. Among those needs: personal protective equipment, or PPE, including N95 respirator masks, surgical gowns and
URBANA — Work began two months ago at the University of Illinois on an emergency ventilator to treat COVID-19 patients. Now, the new design has found a manufacturer. U of I mechanical engineering professor Bill King oversaw the team that designed — and tested prototypes — of the Illinois Rapidvent ventilator, all in about three
Hospitals treating patients with COVID-19 face a growing need for ventilators to help them breathe. Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have come up with a design for a ventilator … and they’re offering it for free. The Illinois RapidVent, looking at first sight like a few pieces of plastic plus some screws,
Illinois Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Top 5,000 CHAMPAIGN – On Monday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 461 new cases of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, bringing the state’s total so far to 5,057. In addition, the death toll in Illinois stands at 75. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email