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the region's health care sector supports 1,248 businesses and 120,668 jobs while generating annual revenue of more than $140 billion. Even more valuable may be the relationships that spring up within the industry. "This rich, collaborative ecosystem was an exceptional draw for an institution like ours and has been crucial to our success," said Charles Lee, scientific director and professor at the Jackson Laboratory. Those relationships proved essential as the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread TRINITY HEALTH CEO Reginald Eadie speaks at a press conference. through the U.S. in early 2020. Support from government on the federal, state and local levels also was essential in handling the pandemic, said Reginald Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health of New England, a four-hospital health system with 11,000 employees and annual revenue of nearly $2 billion. "My measuring rod is what happened during the pandemic," Eadie said, noting the importance of everyone from front-line staff to lawmakers to Gov. Ned Lamont. Lamont "partnered with health care professionals, asked the right questions and implemented the right strategies," Eadie said. Jackson Laboratory, mean- while, pivoted from research to coronavirus testing, Lee said. Later on, the institution began genomic sequencing on positive test results to detect virus vari- ants, "a crucial service as the virus continues to evolve," Lee said. "If it weren't for the existing resources in the state – and specifically in the Hartford region – this would not have been possible," Lee said. "This rich, collaborative ecosystem was an exceptional draw for an institution like ours and has been crucial to our success." —Charles Lee, Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine HARTFORD LIVE WORK PLAY SUBMITTED 23 HBJ HARTFORD LIVE WORK PLAY