welcome to the show, Doctor.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thanks. Great to be with you, Trevor.

Well, thank you for being there,

and then thank you for talking to me here, I should say.

I feel like we have to change our language

for the world we live in now.

Um, you're one of the few people

who has a unique incite into what is happening now.

As somebody who served as the U.S. Surgeon General,

you had a very specific job,

and that is essentially keeping the nation healthy.

And you've commented on how unfair it is

to send doctors in to fight the coronavirus

when the government is not giving them the equipment

that they need to protect themselves.

What do you think people are missing about the fight

doctors are having with this virus?

Well, Trevor, this feels very personal to me.

You know, it is my friends, my family members

and colleagues who are on the front lines now

of the war that we're waging with this new virus

and a very dangerous virus.

And we're asking them in many cases

to go into battle without the armor they need.

There are doctors who are having to reuse masks

because their hospitals are running out,

even though they know that puts them at greater risk.

There are doctors who are running out of gowns and gloves.

There are hospitals that are running out of ventilators,

and they're trying to figure out how to use one ventilator

and share them between two patients at the same time.

So it is not wrong to ask doctors and nurses to work hard.

It's not wrong to ask them to sacrifice

to take care of their patients.

But I believe it's wrong to send them in

without the protection that they deserve.

And that's why, as a country,

we need to be pulling out the stops

on ramping up production of all of the materials that they need.

It's not enough to say "We'll do it when we need it."

It's not enough to say,

"Well, it's up to somebody else to solve that problem."

Like, at all, every level of government,

we need to be making this the top priority,

because doctors, nurses and health care workers

are putting their lives on the line for us,

and it's high time that we had their backs.

A growing consensus, uh, that's starting to emerge

both online and, unfortunately, in the White House, is

this idea that the cure,

which is social distancing, etcetera,

some people are calling it, is gonna be worse

than what is being caused

by people being unemployed, etcetera.

What do you think people are missing when they say,

"We're just gonna have to live with this,

"allow people to get sick and accept

that some people are going to die"?

Well, I think it's, look, important to consider the pros

and cons of every approach.

And let's be honest. There is no perfect approach here.

Uh, but it is, I think, a false choice to say

that we have to choose between people's lives and the economy.

Because the real way, uh,

that we should be addressing this virus is to recognize

that the way we save the economy

is actually by defeating the virus.

Unless we take these steps

and make sure that these are in place, uh,

we really should not be thinking about pulling back.

That is recipe for making the situation,

both the health and the economic situation much, much worse.

Before I let you go, um, you have a book that is coming out

that speaks to a situation

that we all find ourselves in right now, and that is,

we are isolated from people that we know and love.

Many people are forced to stay at home,

either by themselves, or not

with the community they're used to.

You write in your book

about how society is struggling with a new disease,

and that is, essentially, loneliness.

What are some of the things people can do

to try and maintain their mental health,

as well as their physical health?

I'm glad you asked, Trevor, because it's important,

not just because loneliness makes us feel poorly,

but also because we now understand

that chronic loneliness is actually bad for our health.

It increases our risk for heart disease.

It shortens our...

It's associated with a shorter lifespan.

But there are things that we can do

to ensure that we strengthen social connection.

And as hard as this time is, I think that we can potentially

come out of it even stronger if we do a few things.

So, number one-- I think it's important

that we spend at least 15 minutes a day, if not more,

engaged with the people that we love,

whether that means video conferencing with them,

writing to them, calling them on the phone

so we can hear their voice.

The second is-- it's really important

that we make that time count.

And that means improving the quality of our time

with others by decreasing the distractions

that we experience during our interactions.

So instead of talking to somebody on the phone

while you're also scrolling through your social media feed

and rushing your in-box and watching the news on TV,

just try talking to them with your full attention.

One of the greatest gifts that we can give people

is the gift of our full attention.

And finally, it's important also to recognize

that one the back doors out of loneliness, if you will,

one of the great, but hidden solutions

to loneliness is service.

It's by helping others, uh,

that we actually take the focus off of ourselves

and place it on someone else.

It's how we rebuild a connection to someone

or establish a new one,

and it's also how we remind ourselves

-that we have value to give to the world. -Mm-hmm.

Because one of the great prices that we pay when we're lonely

is, over time, we start to buy into the idea

that maybe we're lonely because we're not likable.

Maybe in some way it's our fault.

Maybe this is evidence of some personality flaw.

Now, none of that is true.

But when we serve other people, we're reminded

of how good it feels to connect, and that we have something

of great value to bring to them

and to others around them.

Oh, Doctor, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for the words.

Uh, hopefully, people will listen,

and we'll be seeing you on the other side.

Have a good one.

Thanks so much, Trevor. Take care and stay safe.