Meat Plants Ordered to Stay Open; Building Human Connections while Social Distancing.
BERMAN: So with most of the country still locked down, Americans have never been so isolated. How can we maintain connections with all this social distancing? Joining us again, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. He is the author of a new book on this exact subject, "Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World." We should note he's also a public health adviser for the Biden campaign. Look, you wrote this before social distancing and the pandemic. That's how much of a problem it was even without this. Now you say we are suffering from a social recession. What do you mean?</s>DR. VIVEK MURTHY, FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Well, John, long before Covid-19 was on the scene, I was realizing when I traveled the country as surgeon general that many people were struggling with loneliness. And I had seen loneliness in my own life, in the lives of my patients as I cared for them in the hospital. But I hadn't appreciated just how common this was. People would often say to me, I feel I have to shoulder all these burdens alone. I feel if I disappear tomorrow, no one would even notice. I feel invisible. And I was hearing this from moms and dads in the Midwest, from people in small fishing villages in Alaska and from members of Congress as well. And what I learned, you know, during that time, John, is that not only is loneliness incredibly common, but more than 22 percent of adults in the United States is struggling with loneliness. But it's also consequential that people with loneliness, you know, noting that that's associated with a greater risk of heart disease and dementia, depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances. My worry about right now, about Covid-19 and this physical distancing we're being asked to observe, is that if we're not careful, if we don't act differently, then we are putting ourselves at risk of deepening loneliness. Something I think of as a social recession. But I don't think it has to be that way. I think we can change that.</s>BERMAN: To be clear, we are faced with unprecedented challenges here and being put in situations we've never been put in before. Just talk about people in the hospitals. They can't be visited. At the very time when I think being with sick people would be most advantageous, we can't be with those who are sick in the hospital. No, I haven't seen either of my parents who live alone in months and I won't be able to, in all likelihood, in months. These are the types of challenges we face now. And you say it can have real medical implications.</s>MURTHY: Well, it can. If we're not careful, chronic loneliness can create chronic stress. It creates a physiological stress state in our body. And when we are in that stressed state for a long period of time, it can lead to increased inflammation and increase our risk of chronic illnesses. But I do think that ultimately this topic, and the reason I wrote about it is, I think that it -- there's this source of hope here because I -- what I realize is, in our relationships that we find one of our greatest resources, a resource that can help us be healthier, perform better in the workplace and at school, and even help heal our dialog and our politics. But here's what we can do right now to avoid that social recession. We can make it a point to spend at least 15 minutes a day talking to ideally video conferencing with people we love. And that's a way of staying connected to the outside world. Second, we can make sure that the quality of the time that we have with them is high. And we can do that by eliminating distraction when we're talking to others, particularly from our phones. And, third, we can look for ways to serve. One of the great realizations I had in writing this book was that service is a powerful antidote to loneliness. It shifts the focus to someone else in the context of a positive interaction. It reminds us that we have value to bring to the world. These three simple steps can be powerful in terms of the impact they have on us in keeping us more connected at a time when we desperately need it.</s>BERMAN: We can put up this list so people can see exactly the advice you're giving here of things you can do to deal with loneliness. Yes, stop texting. Start calling. Video calls really, really good. I also think that you need to be focused not on Instagram while you're on those calls as well. But one of these things is interesting. You say practice moments of solitude. So how can practicing moments of solitude help you from being lonely?</s>MURTHY: Well, John, it turns out that our ability to connect with other people is very much influenced by the space that we're in, by our ability to actually connect with ourselves and be grounded and rooted in the moment. And right now there is so much turmoil in the world around us, by taking just a few minutes of solitude where we sit on our stoop and feel the breeze against our face, where we remember three things that we're grateful for, where we use those few minutes to take a walk in nature, to meditate, to pray or just to reflect, that is time where we let the noise around us settles, where we can ground ourselves and center ourselves. And when we approach other people from that place is centeredness, our conversations are better. We can listen more deeply and we ultimately can feel more connected to them. Look, overall, if we approach this Covid-19 pandemic with an eye towards strengthening our connections, if we recommit to the people in our lives and our relationships, I think we can actually use this moment to</s>BERMAN: What are the limits, though, of say Zoom or Facetime?</s>MURTHY: Well, Zooming and video conferencing with people is not the same as being in person. Nothing is. And that's why I think for so many of us being physically distanced from others is so difficult and painful. But it is far better than the alternative, which is not having any contact with anyone. In '92, I lived through Hurricane Andrew and we lost power and phones for weeks and weeks and weren't able to really see anyone. That was a very difficult time. This is a moment where we can use technology for our benefit to stay connected to others and that's a real blessing in this time.</s>BERMAN: All right, Dr. Vivek Murthy, thank you so much for being with us. Let's put the book on the screen so people can see it. The book's title is, "Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World." What incredible timing. Thanks so much for being with us and thank you for your work.</s>MURTHY: Thank you, John. Appreciate that.</s>BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: If we are unsuccessful or prematurely try to open up, it could be a rebound.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around (ph) businesses, our schools and child care centers. We believe we are weeks, not months away from making meaningful modifications.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The plan I'm unveiling today puts the power of a decision-making into the hands of the people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't feel comfortable opening up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president now expected to sign an executive order forcing the plants to remain open.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Workers need proper sanitation. They need constant testing. This is a very high priority issue for our government, as well as for our consumers.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>CAMEROTA: We want to welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. And as of this morning, there are more than one million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. At least 58,000 Americans have died because of the virus. So, this morning, we want to look more closely at those numbers and at the projections because if 2,000 Americans are still dying a day, that means this summer will look different than we've thought. It's true, the number of deaths is no longer growing exponentially, but it's also true the daily --