Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, is holding a virtual panel on public health and environmental justice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel will be held via Facebook Live on Thursday starting at 2 p.m.
According to a press release from Comerford’s office, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently released a brief highlighting the unequal effects of COVID-19 in the state. This brief, which will be a topic of discussion during the panel, describes the ways in which targeted and marginalized communities are disproportionately bearing the brunt of both the impact of COVID-19 and climate change.
Comerford, who is chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, will be joined by five panelists with diverse perspectives and backgrounds focused on public health inequities and environmental justice in Massachusetts, according to the release. The panelists are:
■State Rep. Aaron Vega, 5th Hampden District
■Dr. Frank Robinson, vice president of public health with Baystate Health
■Melissa Hoffer, bureau chief of the Attorney General’s Energy and Environment Bureau
■David Wittenberg, assistant attorney general with the Attorney General’s Energy and Environment Bureau
■Dr. Jonathan Jackson, director of the CARE Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital
The virtual panel will be available for livestreaming on Comerford’s Facebook page. Viewers will be asked to submit questions beforehand for discussion during the panel.