Vivek Murthy

And how do we take care of all those people?

How do we restore faith in patients that they can come back to the healthcare system and not

put themselves at high risk for getting infected.

These are critical questions in terms of how we take care of everyone who doesn't have COVID-19.

Yet another reason why we need to make sure that we're taking care of frontline workers, that we're getting them the tools they need and continuing to build trust by delivering for them.

I'll tell you that one of the most poignant parts of my experience as Surgeon General was spending time with literally thousands of people who had struggled with substance use disorders.

And some of them had come through on the other side and were in recovery.

Others were still in the midst of that deep struggle.

I talked to so many family members who lost loved ones to addiction, including to opioid overdose deaths.

And one of the good things that's happened in the last few years is that we've slowly started to pull back the curtain on addiction.

We've started to lift some of that stigma that still exists to a greater degree, which I think is better now than it was 20, 30 years ago.

But what I worry about is what's happening right now, which is that during times of extraordinary stress and trauma, and we should think about COVID-19 actually as a major stressor,

as a source of trauma across a population.

People who were living in recovery can sometimes, in this setting of severe stress and trauma, can slide back and can relapse.

The second reason I worry, though, is because of what you said earlier, Pooja, the fear that people have with engaging with the healthcare system.

If you are someone struggling with substance use disorders, where does your care fit in to the larger priority list?

Is it essential care?

Is it high priority care?

Well, I think most people would agree that if somebody is in the throes of crisis with COVID-19 and they are on the verge of needing intubation, that they come first.

But after there, it can get murky.