Vivek Murthy

And even when we had to give them really difficult diagnoses, I'd say, is there somebody that we should call to come in?

Because this is a lot to deal with on your own.

And a lot of times they would say, there is nobody.

You know, I'll just have to handle this by myself.

even Puja at the time of death.

I remember so many cases where the only witness to someone's final hours were myself and my colleagues in the hospital.

My experiences were not singular.

What I was being given a window into was a much deeper well of loneliness that affected people, not just across the U.S., but really around the world, and that had profound consequences as well for our health, given that we know now that loneliness is

is associated with the increased risk of heart disease and depression, premature death, as well as anxiety.

COVID has changed my world and it's changed my perspective.

Long before the pandemic hit, I was deeply concerned about loneliness.

But in the age of COVID-19, I'm worried that loneliness could deepen further, that we could see the physical distancing that we're being asked to observe translate into social distancing as we feel more and more disconnected from the people that we need in our lives.

And the irony is that this is happening.

during a time of extraordinary stress.

And so I worry about what I think of as a social recession that we may incur with profound consequences for our health, for our productivity in the workplace, for how our kids do in schools.

But I also think that this could be an extraordinary opportunity for us to step back and to ask ourselves if we're leading the kind of lives that we really wanna lead,

This is our chance to ask ourselves where people fit in our priority list and whether there's a gap between our stated priorities and our lived priorities.

I will tell you that there's a gap in my life.

That if you ask me, what are your top priorities?

I'd be very clear on that.