COVID-19: Next steps to normalcy

What is the future outlook of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Two years in, the pandemic has reshaped our country and the world, and we face yet another phase of the crisis with the omicron variant.

What does the path forward look like?

The Director of the Rowe Center for Virology Research at the Morgridge Institute, Dr. Paul Ahlquist, will moderate a discussion on where we are, the outlook for moving out of the crisis and into recovery, and how we can manage this new normal going forward.

Ahlquist will be joined by three panelists: epidemiologist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Tony Goldberg (UW-Madison), health economist Dr. Reka Sundaram-Stukel (Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services), and Chief Medical Officer for Communicable Diseases Dr. Ryan Westergaard (Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services).

Panelists will discuss:

1. The diverse impacts of the pandemic, from economics to mental health
2. The interconnection between local and global public health
3. Efforts to reduce the likelihood of new variants forming
4. How COVID-19 may evolve from a pandemic into an endemic disease
5. The scientific effort to prepare for the next novel virus