This episode discusses loneliness as a public health epidemic and the steps we can take to combat feelings of loneliness, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a brief news update from Allie Berges and Neha Anand on President Joe Biden’s first executive orders related to health, Sahana Jayaraman and Neha Anand talk about why loneliness is a public health issue, how it has impacted us, patients, and health care workers during the pandemic, and suggestions to overcome loneliness. 

This episode was inspired by Vivek Murthy’s book, “Together.” Other sources mentioned in this episode include TIME magazine’s article, “COVID-19 Is Making America's Loneliness Epidemic Even Worse,” and the CDC and HRSA website on loneliness: 

https://time.com/5833681/loneliness-covid-19/

https://www.hrsa.gov/enews/past-issues/2019/january-17/loneliness-epidemic

https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html   

You can find a list of resources to cope with loneliness here:

https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-deal-with-loneliness 

Content discussed in this podcast does not reflect the views of our institutions Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This podcast is also not meant for medical advice. 

Original music composed by Thomas Le and performed by The Bruits (Alina Spiegel, Antonio Salas, and Thomas Le)

For more news updates on the coronavirus, follow @covidup2date on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for concise daily updates from medical students.

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