The US ‘loneliness epidemic’ persists. Former surgeon general sees progress in Lexington
During his second stint as the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy declared the United States was in a loneliness epidemic.
He’s penned several reports, authored a book and has toured the country to share his fear that increasing social isolation is leading to poor physical and mental health outcomes.
Studies and surveys have shown that Americans across all age groups are increasingly lonely. A 2025 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that half or more of Americans say they feel isolated, left out or lack companionship often. A Gallup found one in five Americans experience loneliness daily.
Murthy hasn’t lost all hope, though. As part of his Together Project, he has spent time looking for cities he thinks are battling that epidemic in interesting ways. Lexington is one of those places.
In an interview with the Herald-Leader during his visit to Lexington, Murthy said he was particularly impressed with the city’s small business community, civic organizations and Fayette County Public School students.
“Our participation in civic, faith and service organizations is declining. Technology has changed our lives. Fundamentally, people become more isolated,” he said.
Murthy said learning how to be locally engaged is no longer something people will automatically and naturally learn, and being social is a muscle that can atrophy.
Leaders and organizations need to put explicit effort into rebuilding senses of connection and strengthening people’s social muscles, he said.
“We met with a group of entrepreneurs and small business owners who see their work as not only delivering a product or service but creating a space where people can gather,” Murthy said.
That meeting was at DV8 Kitchen, which specifically hires employees who are in recovery and recently released from prison.
“You’ve got a restaurant owner who’s not only trying to serve food and provide a service, but build a community of employees who are in recovery right now, who support each other, bond with each other, and are there for each other and make decisions together.”
Toa Green of Crank and Boom, Salvador Sanchez of A Cup of Common Wealth and Rick and Joni Paynter of The Kentucky Shop were among those in attendance at the meeting, all staples in Lexington’s local business scene.
“They all emphasized that the choice between building community and being a profitable business, that’s not (a dichotomy). Those two things go hand in hand. The stronger the community, often the healthier and more successful the business can be. That was so powerful,” Murthy said.
Murthy also highlighted new downtown public spaces, such as the Town Branch Commons and newly renovated Phoenix Park, as examples of impressive social infrastructure in the city. Green spaces and built environments are vital for connecting people, whether they host programmed events or provide an opportunity for people to bump into one another casually, he said.
The new parks fund, approved by voters through a ballot referendum in the 2024 election, could bring increased investment into those types of public spaces in the coming years. Mayor Linda Gorton highlighted new playgrounds, walking trails and sports courts supported by the fund in her April budget address to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.
“One thing many people experienced in their life — especially in 2020 when we were told that we couldn’t see anyone and to isolate — is we realized it wasn’t just friends and family that we missed: it was just being in a coffee shop with a stranger or walking down the street and seeing another family,” Murthy said.
But it’s increasingly easier for people to stay home, with their only interactions being with coworkers or clerks at a grocery store. Those aren’t even a guarantee, though, with so many employees working more from home in recent years.
“We tend to have the stereotype in our mind that it’s older people whose mobility is limited, whose family and friends have passed away, who are living alone in their homes” who do not have daily social interactions, Murthy said.
“But we’re also seeing a growing number of people in younger ages who aren’t leaving their homes. Maybe they’re working from home, having all their social interaction online, getting what they need delivered to them at home, and there’s very little interaction at the end of the day.”
Murthy said one interesting local project prompted some people who hadn’t left their home in years, other than to go to the grocery store and occasional church service, to branch out and meet new people: a postcard in the mail inviting them to participate in the Civic Assembly, hosted by CivicLex in March.
The Civic Assembly brought together a randomized, demographically representative group of Lexington residents to review the city’s charter. That group recommended increasing the annual salary for council members and requiring a review of the charter every eight years by a similarly composed group of people.
The Lexington council will have to vote on whether to put those recommendations on the 2026 ballot for Fayette County voters to adopt or reject.
“What a powerful example of how to bring community members who may not have always been engaged in not just the process of government, but just in the community more broadly, and give them a chance to actually get to know each other, work together on something that’s consequential for the whole city,” Murthy said.
CivicLex also hosted the Civics Day fair, where students across Fayette County Public Schools displayed their research projects on important local issues.
Murthy had a sit-down conversation with several of the students before the fair. Those students are struggling with screen addiction and social media messages that define success as fame, money, and power.
Those students are acutely aware of how those issues impact their social connectivity, Murthy said.
“They had all experienced loneliness and isolation,” he said. “Some of them were saying that it’s rare for them to be in a setting where people aren’t scrolling through their phones, even when they’re hanging out in person.”
But the projects displayed at Civics Day - ranging from topics as varied as addressing gun violence, reducing teen tobacco use and increasing Lexington’s urban tree canopy - showed Murthy those same students want to be a part of something bigger.
“Young people actually do really want to make a difference in their community. They want to get involved in fixing the problems they see around them. With a little bit of help and a little bit of support, they can do a lot.”
Murthy added that while the work of different businesses and nonprofits is crucial, cities as a whole need to think in a long-term, deliberate way about how they will address social isolation.
“I think every city, every town, needs a strategic plan for building community,” he said. “Many communities have a strategic plan for economic growth, for improving education, but we don’t necessarily think about community as something that needs an explicit focus on its own.”
If Lexington were to pursue a strategic plan like that, Murthy thinks its residents would be up to making it become reality.
“I come away with the feeling that from a young age to folks who are at the end of their careers, in the last chapters of their lives, there are people all across Lexington who want to be a part of making this community strong,” Murthy said.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 10:18 AM.
