美国国家公共电台 NPR--3 years later, the COVID public health emergency is drawing to a close

3 years later, the COVID public health emergency is drawing to a close

Transcript¹

The nation's COVID-19 public health emergency declaration is ending. Here's what is and isn't changing.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today, the United States passes out of its COVID emergency. We have been in an official state of emergency ever since early 2020, when then-Health Secretary Alex Azar faced reporters at the White House.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALEX AZAR: The United States government will implement² temporary measures to increase our abilities to detect and contain the coronavirus proactively and aggressively.

INSKEEP: Temporary came to mean more than three years, although for many people, the feeling of an emergency passed away long ago. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin is here to tell us what is changing on this day and what is not. Hey there, Selena.

SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE³: Hi. Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: It is weird⁴ even to try to remember what it felt like in early 2020, how disorienting that moment was.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, at the very beginning of 2020, we had no idea what was in store. Schools shut down initially⁵ just for a few weeks.

INSKEEP: Yeah. Wow.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: And in the past three years, there have been at least 6 million hospitalizations from COVID in the U.S. and 1.1 million U.S. deaths. That's not a final figure. At least a thousand people a week still die, although those numbers have been trending down for months. And I should say opinion is divided on whether it's really the right time to end this emergency declaration. Some say it should have happened earlier. Others are still concerned, including Professor Howard Markel at the University of Michigan. He is a physician and medical historian.

HOWARD MARKEL: People are tired. Three years is a long, long, long time for this kind of stuff. I get that. But what I would say is that be careful out there.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Markel himself actually got COVID in January and is still not feeling great. He says the end of the declaration does not mean COVID is done with us.

INSKEEP: Well, I finally got COVID just a few months ago, and I'm aware that it's out there, that members of my family could get it. But the declaration is ending today. So what does that mean in practice?

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Well, the federal government will no longer buy COVID tests or vaccine⁶ doses or treatments to give out to the American public for free. So that's a big change. Health insurance is going to take over. Patients will have to go to the doctor, get a prescription⁷, perhaps pay a copay, just like they do for any other illness. Now, I should say, vaccines⁸ will still be free for practically everyone, including people who are uninsured, at least while the federal supply lasts. Also, CDC will be scaling back its COVID data tracking efforts and won't update it as regularly. And for people on Medicaid, the requirement to recertify that you qualify every year was on hold during the pandemic. That has started up again. So everyone will have to recertify at some point this year to keep coverage⁹.

INSKEEP: Getting back to what we vaguely¹⁰ recall as normal from before the pandemic - I'm thinking of another thing that I did for the first time in my life early in the pandemic, and that is that I had some doctor's appointment, and I did it on my phone. It was remote. It was telemedicine, which was suddenly much easier to do under new rules early in the pandemic. Is that going away?

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: It is not, partly because it is so popular. It is going to stay the same. And that includes access to controlled substances via telemedicine and hospital-at-home programs. So a lot of those remote programs are going to stay in place, at least for now. All of the COVID tests and vaccines and treatments that the Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use will also still be available. And I would say a lot of these real-world impacts are kind of on the technical side. For most people walking around, the end of the declaration is more than anything a moment to stop and reflect on the closing of this particular chapter.

INSKEEP: If we can even stand to think back.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yes.

INSKEEP: Selena, thanks so much.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Thank you.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin.

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 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

3 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。

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 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。

7 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

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 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。

10 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。