SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND)- The University of Illinois Springfield hosted a webinar with physicians on the front lines of the pandemic.

Dr. Raj Govindaiah, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Memorial Health System, said for nine months, health care workers have lived through the stress of the pandemic.

"We shut down. We stopped doing things and people said, 'Why'd we do that, nothing happened,'" Govindaiah said. "Well, it's happening now."

Govindaiah said the recent surge of cases has hit health care systems hard.

"We prepared in March, April and May for a surge that did not come, but that preparation served us well for a surge that has arrived," Govindaiah said. "The problem is we didn't really plan for this much disease activity. No one did. The United States has kind of lost the handle on containment."

According to Govindaiah, he has see the impact the rise in cases has had on health care workers.

"It's taking its toll on everyone in the community," Govindaiah said. "It's taking its toll on our hospital care, and it's taking an immense toll on the people who are providing that care."

Memorial Health System has five hospitals spread throughout central Illinois, making it one of the largest health care providers in this area.

"At Decatur Memorial Hospital, about one in four patients are COVID-19 positive," Govindaiah said. "In Lincoln, we're pushing 10 out of 25. At Memorial Medical Center, it's nearly 100 out of 350."

According to Govindaiah, positivity rates in Sangamon County are at an all-time high.

"COVID-19 positive test results, you can see the percentage, it skyrocketed, reaching as high as 26 percent," Govindaiah said. "Right now, we're at 22.6 percent for the last seven days. This is all-together too high."

Dr. Peter White, chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care at the SIU School of Medicine, said health systems are using a majority of their resources right now to help meet a demand.

"We have 50 beds available for COVID patients," White said. "We have roughly 48 ventilators. This morning we had 29 in use. We have 19 available."

As we enter the holiday season, officials said they fear Sangamon County will continue to break records. They want to remind the public to wear their masks, stay socially distant and avoid large gatherings.