美国国家公共电台 NPR--奥密克戎变种正在日托中心造成严重破坏

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The omicron variant¹ is wreaking² havoc⁴ at day care centers

Transcript⁵

Children under 5 are still too young to be vaccinated⁶ for COVID-19, and that is leading to a lot of stress and disruption among their parents and their caregivers.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

We're going to spend the next several minutes talking about children under 5. They're still too young to be vaccinated for coronavirus. And our education correspondent Anya Kamenetz finds this means more stress and disruption for parents and caregivers. Good morning.

ANYA KAMENETZ, BYLINE⁷: Good morning, Debbie.

ELLIOTT: So what's going on with the youngest kids now?

KAMENETZ: So we should say, you know, the omicron variant itself is still quite mild for most children. But there are just so many cases right now that hospitalizations are up, particularly among the children under 5. And we've heard that those vaccines⁸ may still be months away. But, you know, that's not the only reason that both parents and caregivers of young children are telling me this is the worst moment of the pandemic so far. Caregivers have been leaving the profession. And parents are living in fear of getting that call or that email that day care is going to be closed for quarantine, or that their child just wakes up with a runny nose and has to stay home.

ELLIOTT: It makes it really hard to plan your life, right?

KAMENETZ: That's right.

ELLIOTT: So the CDC has shortened isolation⁹ periods now for employees and is advising that schools use rapid tests so they can keep students in the classroom. Have those rule changes affected¹⁰ day cares or preschools?

KAMENETZ: It's very patchwork¹¹, you know? Providers say that they're confused about what guidance to follow - is it the CDC, which has changed, the state, the county? And since these kids are not vaccinated, it does vary. But many centers are sticking to that two-week quarantine or 10-day quarantine. They're sending home an entire classroom for just one case. And then, you know, you add to that in many places, it's still hard to get tests. Children this age, they're prone¹² to wake up with symptoms for any reason. So it's a lot of disruptions.

ELLIOTT: You've spent this last week talking to parents and providers around the country. And it sounds like you got an earful.

KAMENETZ: Yes. Let me just start out with Cori Berg. She directs the Hope Day School. That's a church-affiliated preschool program in Dallas.

CORI BERG: This is the worst it has ever been. Last week, in particular, every single director I know got really beat up.

KAMENETZ: The low point for her?

BERG: Oh, I had somebody tell me to [expletive] off last week.

KAMENETZ: That irate¹³ parent gave up her spots when Berg closed both of her children's classrooms for 14-day quarantines. And when she wanted to bring them back, there was no room.

BERG: She was behaving like a toddler, jumping up and down. I've never seen an adult act that way.

KAMENETZ: Berg said the mother later apologized for throwing such a tantrum. When I spoke¹⁴ with Berg, she was isolating¹⁵ on her couch with symptoms after being exposed to COVID at work. She couldn't find an at-home rapid test for sale anywhere. And the next available PCR test was four days later. Across the country in Brooklyn, Kasia Kaim-Goncalves also said this was the worst moment of the whole pandemic. She runs a home-based program for 2 and 3-year-olds.

KASIA KAIM-GONCALVES: This variant affected me most in this whole period since COVID started, because not only did I get sick, my whole family was sick. But also, with such high positivity rates, half children are out at any given time.

KAMENETZ: Kaim-Goncalves says, she doesn't know what health guidance to follow. And parents are lobbying her to relax the rules.

KAIM-GONCALVES: So crazy because we don't know which guidelines to follow. Should we follow the CDC? Should I follow the state rules? And they're different.

KAMENETZ: The CDC has shortened its isolation guidance to five days from 10. Many public schools were following test-to-stay policies that can allow exposed children to return to school with daily rapid tests. But many day cares, including Berg's and Kaim-Goncalves', are still closing entire classrooms for 14 days for a single case.

KAIM-GONCALVES: You know, we can't come to a consensus¹⁶ with the families. It's very stressful for families. It's very stressful for us.

KAMENETZ: Charles Billot's 2-year-old daughter goes to Kaim-Goncalves' day care in Brooklyn. He says keeping her there and healthy...

CHARLES BILLOT: It's been a lot of dodging¹⁷ bullets.

KAMENETZ: Billot and his wife have an infant as well. And when his toddler is sent home with any symptoms at all, he has to do his work at night. He's in film production.

BILLOT: Kids in bed at 8, 8:30 p.m., time for them to make sure they are asleep, like, 9:30, 10 p.m. At the office until 3 a.m. - 2 a.m., 3 a.m.

KAMENETZ: Some caregivers say parents are just refusing to follow the rules. Bernadette Ngoh is an in-home provider in West Haven¹⁸, Conn.

BERNADETTE NGOH: When I insist on take a child for testing, some parents will explain to me, what if I take my child to test and then the child comes back positive? Then I cannot go to work. What will I do with my rent, with my bills?

GLADYS JONES: They come in. And they don't tell us they're sick.

KAMENETZ: Gladys Jones also runs an in-home day care in Staten Island, N.Y. Her clients are living paycheck to paycheck. Some are in shelters. They cannot afford to miss a day of work. So they bring in sick kids.

JONES: And I say, you have to be - we have to be morally conscious. Come on. You could kill somebody.

KAMENETZ: On a recent morning, a mother brought her sick toddler in after an older sibling¹⁹ was exposed to COVID on the school bus.

JONES: And she just threw up all over the place.

KAMENETZ: Joseph Speyer is another working dad of two living in Washington, D.C. In December, he and his wife spent $1,000 on backup child care when their son's day care closed for a quarantine. In January, they had to do it again.

JOSEPH SPEYER: You know, this whole thing just has really put a lot of strain on us, like, financially, emotionally.

KAMENETZ: Speyer says, the hardest part of all has been seeing the impact of the disruption on his two little kids.

SPEYER: I mean, it's the changing routine. We've had to constantly, you know, just force them into a new day every day, totally different, on a 2-year-old, 4-year-old.

KAMENETZ: Bernadette Ngoh in Connecticut is a member of a network called All Our Kin³ that advocates for better public support for child care, especially in-home child cares, like hers.

NGOH: Child care becomes one of the things that we need to look at critically and give it the support it deserves, especially as we are not taking care of little, little bananas and chicken. We are taking care of the next generation of who the nation will rely on, our next leaders.

KAMENETZ: Ngoh recently testified at a Senate hearing about the need for more funding so families have better options.

ELLIOTT: So Anya, is there anything on the horizon that might ease this situation?

KAMENETZ: So the last three months of job numbers show that things are actually getting worse. Day care workers are leaving the workforce²⁰. Cori Berg says, you know, you can make more money down the street at Walmart than you can working for a day care. So the American Rescue Plan gave $24 billion in stabilization²¹ grants to child care programs last year, which many providers told me was very helpful. But the Build Back Better plan, you know, it has $400 billion on the table for federal child care and preschool funding. And that's stalled right now in Congress. So the hope right now that I've heard from advocates is that the child care parts of this plan might be carved off into their own bill to help solve the supply crisis here.

ELLIOTT: NPR education correspondent Anya Kamenetz. Thanks so much.

KAMENETZ: Thank you, Debbie.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOSEPH SHABASON'S "NOVEMBER")

1 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。

2 wreaking   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Coal mining is a messy business, often wreaking terrible environmental damage nearby. 采矿是肮脏的行业，往往会严重破坏周边环境。
• The floods are wreaking havoc in low-lying areas. 洪水正在地势低洼地区肆虐。

3 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

4 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

5 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。

6 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

9 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

12 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

13 irate   

adj.发怒的，生气

参考例句：

• The irate animal made for us,coming at a full jump.那头发怒的动物以最快的速度向我们冲过来。
• We have received some irate phone calls from customers.我们接到顾客打来的一些愤怒的电话

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句

16 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

17 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句

18 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

19 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

20 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

21 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。