Months into the coronavirus pandemic, the devastating economic impact on Americans is beginning to be measured. A poll out this month by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, finds that in some of America's largest cities, more than half of the households say they have lost a job, been furloughed, or had wages and hours reduced since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

No groups have been more affected than minority communities, both in terms of illness, death and financial devastation. These communities were already disproportionately burdened by wage gaps and chronic illnesses before the pandemic.

Watch an expert panel discussion on the extent of these problems and approaches to mitigating on Wednesday, September 30, to be live-streamed here at 12 p.m. ET, as part of The Forum at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Joe Neel, deputy senior supervising editor on NPR's Science Desk, will moderate the discussion with:

Robert Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis, Emeritus,

Barbara Ferrer, Director, Department of Public Health, County of Los Angeles,

Howard Koh, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School as well as Faculty Co-Chair of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative,

David Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health and Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,

Ngozi Ezike, Illinois Director of Public Health.

This webcast is part of an ongoing series, "Coronavirus in America: Families in Crisis." The series is based in part on a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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