Surgeon General Murthy details the administration's next move against COVID

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Surgeon General Murthy details the administration's next move against COVID

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martinez speaks to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about the White House's new testing and masking efforts that are aimed at stopping the omicron surge.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Let's bring in U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. He joins us again, as he has several times before.

Dr. Murthy, thanks for being back on the show.

VIVEK MURTHY: Well, thanks, Rachel. It's good to be with you, as always.

MARTIN: Let's start with the Supreme² Court decisions. How much of a setback³ is the decision about the vaccine⁴ mandate⁵ for large companies?

MURTHY: Well, Rachel, you know, as a doctor and a public health professional, it was very disappointing to hear the decision about the workplace vaccine requirement. It's a setback for public health. And these vaccine requirements would have helped make our workplaces safer not just for workers but also for customers. But the good news is that companies can still put in place vaccine requirements on their own, as many have already done. And it's also very important to note that the vaccine requirement for health care workers was upheld. That is a step toward making health care settings safer not only for health care workers but also for patients.

MARTIN: I want to talk about testing. The new president - the president - President Biden has announced new initiatives, rather, in terms of testing. Hundreds of millions of free tests will be available to Americans. You're rolling out a website next week to facilitate that. But why did people in this country have to endure so many weeks of going to the drugstore only to be told, sorry - no tests?

MURTHY: Well, Rachel, it's a good question. And testing is a - has been challenging over the last few weeks, no doubt. There were investments that were made - that the president and the administration made early this year using the Defense⁶ Production Act - billions of dollars put forward to enhance and strengthen the manufacturing process and to approve nine tests, actually - new tests that are now available. That helped to quadruple the supply of testings in the fall leading to December. But the omicron variant⁷ just generated an extraordinary amount of demand and made it clear that there was much more work to do. And so that's why you heard...

MARTIN: Does that mean that the administration just wasn't prepared for the transmissibility of omicron?

MURTHY: Well, it's why you saw, actually, not just in the United States but in the United Kingdom and in other countries that there was a shortage of tests. And so many countries are looking to catch up now. But that's why you heard the 1 billion tests that will now be available to people. They can order it on the website later this month. It will be sent directly to them. This is in addition, Rachel, to the insurance coverage⁸ - private insurance coverage - of tests that will start on Saturday, January 15, and is also in addition to the 20,000 locations around the country where people can get free tests today.

MARTIN: OK, so playing catch up, hoping that all those tests will help abate⁹ this - the omicron crisis. I want to ask about COVID hospitalizations. The count is more than 150,000 people. Can you clarify for us how that number is calculated? Are these all people who came to the hospital because they had COVID symptoms and are being treated for COVID? Or did they incidentally get a positive test while they're in the hospital for something else? - 'cause there's been a debate about this.

MURTHY: Yes, it's a very important question, Rachel. And what we're seeing because of how contagious¹⁰ omicron is is that there are - there seem to be a greater portion of patients in hospitals who incidentally have COVID. That means they may have come in for another reason and then on routine testing are found to have COVID. The question is, how great is that proportion? In New York City, they found that in some cases it was up to half of patients who had COVID but were not there for COVID. Whether or not that - the same proportion holds up in other parts of the country is what the CDC is investigating right now.

But the bottom line is, regardless of the reason, the number of people coming in is straining our health care system and overtaxing our health care workers. And that's one of the reasons why President Biden announced that in addition to the 800 federal personnel sent to support hospital systems, we'd be sending another 1,000 more. And that's in addition to the millions of pieces of medical equipment, including protective equipment, that has been sent, and the additional space that we're working to create in hospitals around the country.

MARTIN: That is no doubt going to be good news for the next voice that we hear. I want to play a clip of tape from a doctor named Bradley Dreifuss in Tucson, Ariz. We heard from him in a reported piece by Will Stone earlier this week on this program. And Dreifuss told us that some of his patients are waiting 200 hours to be admitted to the ER.

Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

BRADLEY DREIFUSS: Our hospitals are totally full. We're not able to admit patients. We don't even have admitting teams currently. We are not able to get patients where they need to be because our system is literally¹¹ collapsing¹².

MARTIN: So that's already happening. What is the timeline for the relief you just outlined?

MURTHY: Well, much of that relief is already moving out, and it has been for the last several weeks. The additional 1,000 individuals will be going out within days. And again, there's a lot of ongoing¹³ effort from the administration side to support hospital systems. But the reality is that many systems are strained right now because of the dramatic increase in cases. And so the next few weeks are going to be tough, Rachel. That is a sad reality. We're going to see more cases. There is going to be strain in the hospital systems, but we will get through these few weeks.

It's why it's so important right now that people take every step possible to use their precautions, double down on the precautions that we know work to reduce spread. That means wearing a high-quality mask, especially when you're in high-risk settings. It means avoiding unnecessary risk and gatherings¹⁴ for the next few weeks...

MARTIN: OK.

MURTHY: ...Because we just have to keep cases as low as we can, recognizing that we are going to see a lot...

MARTIN: Yeah.

MURTHY: ...In the days ahead.

MARTIN: U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy - thank you.

MURTHY: Thanks so much, Rachel. Take care.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

8 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

9 abate   

vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退

参考例句：

• We must abate the noise pollution in our city.我们必须消除我们城里的噪音污染。
• The doctor gave him some medicine to abate the powerful pain.医生给了他一些药，以减弱那剧烈的疼痛。

10 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

13 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

14 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。