美国国家公共电台 NPR--Monkeypox cases are rising in the U.S. What's being done to stop the outbreak?

Monkeypox cases are rising in the U.S. What's being done to stop the outbreak?

Transcript¹

San Francisco has declared a state of emergency and New York City called the virus an imminent² threat. What is the White House's strategy to curb³ the monkeypox outbreak?

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

Meantime, the U.S. is now racing⁴ to blunt another outbreak. Monkeypox case counts are rising quickly here in the United States. Nearly 5,000 have already been reported. And health officials say every American ought to be taking notice. The White House is trying to keep an eye on the situation. I asked NPR's Pien Huang how she sees the Biden administration's strategy.

PIEN HUANG, BYLINE⁵: The main strategy seems to be vaccinating⁶ enough people at high risk to stop the outbreak. And that's been hard since the U.S. started with a very limited number of monkeypox vaccine⁷ doses. The situation is getting better. The administration has now shipped more than 300,000 doses of the vaccine to states and territories. And yesterday, they said that they were getting more shots. So that means, in total, 1.1 million doses will have come online as of this weekend. And they say more doses are coming.

KHALID: And it does seem like the administration is focusing quite a bit of its effort on vaccines⁸. Do you feel like that is enough at this point to really get the outbreak under control?

HUANG: Well, it's hard to say. And it's hard to say how long it will take. In fact, federal health officials were asked how many people needed to get vaccinated⁹ to stop the outbreak, and they didn't give a hard number. Part of the reason is that we don't actually know the full scope of the outbreak right now. The official case count is almost 5,000, but there are definitely more cases. And even though testing has improved this month, every person with a new rash is not necessarily getting tested for monkeypox. You know, they might not know where to go. They might not have a doctor. Or their doctor might not know to test for it. Or they might not be able to afford it. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said vaccines won't be enough on their own.

XAVIER BECERRA: We believe that we have done everything we can at the federal level to work with our state and local partners in communities affected¹⁰ to make sure we can stay ahead of this and end this outbreak. But everybody's got to take the oar¹¹ and row.

HUANG: By everybody, he's talking about state and local health officials and the communities at risk, which so far have mostly been men who have sex with men. And what will these preventative measures look like? He didn't actually elaborate. But health experts say this generally includes contact tracing, finding and treating cases early and isolating¹² people with monkeypox for the several weeks when they're infectious.

KHALID: You know, you mentioned state officials. So what do states actually think about this?

HUANG: Well, I asked Dr. Marcus Plescia. He's with the Association of State and Territorial¹³ Health Officials. And he says, metaphorically¹⁴, states have grabbed the oars¹⁵.

MARCUS PLESCIA: We're all rowing as hard as we can. And, you know, I think states do feel like the government - the federal government is doing everything they can to procure¹⁶ a vaccine. But, you know, we can't give out vaccines that we don't have.

KHALID: Pien, we have now seen local emergency declarations. What kind of difference would any sort of national emergency declaration make?

HUANG: Yeah. The White House is now considering whether it rises to the level of a federal public health emergency. And that would open up more funding and resources for the monkeypox response. Lindsay Wiley, a health law professor at UCLA, says it would also put people on alert.

LINDSAY WILEY: A federal public health emergency declaration, any emergency declaration, also has a signaling effect to the public in terms of, you know, take this seriously. Educate yourself about the risks.

HUANG: It would also allow them to appoint a monkeypox czar to coordinate¹⁷ the response, among other things.

KHALID: NPR's Pien Huang. Thanks so much.

HUANG: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

3 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

4 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

5 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。

6 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

7 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。

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 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？

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 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

12 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

13 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

14 metaphorically   

adv. 用比喻地

参考例句：

• It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
• Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲，它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。

15 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 procure   

vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条

参考例句：

• Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗？
• I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。

17 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。