美国国家公共电台 NPR Former CDC Official Warns Of 2nd COVID-19 Wave: Most American

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, officials have kept warning about the prospect¹ of a second wave.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

ANTHONY FAUCI: We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that.

ROBERT REDFIELD: This virus is going to be with us. I'm hopeful that we'll get through this first wave and have some time to prepare for the second wave.

CRAIG FUGATE: What do we need to do differently to prepare for the next pandemic, the next wave of COVID-19, the next major disaster?

GREENE: The voices there, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House task force; also CDC director Robert Redfield and former FEMA administrator² Craig Fugate.

Now, what the country is doing right now - what we're all doing right now - will have huge implications for this possible future resurgence³, which some say could be worse than the first wave. And here to talk about this is Dr. Ali Khan. He's the former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He joins us on Skype this morning.

Dr. Khan, thanks for taking the time for us.

ALI KHAN: Good morning, David. And thank you for the opportunity.

GREENE: So are you confident, like those officials seem to be, that we are going to see a second wave here in the United States?

KHAN: Well, more than confident because we've still not gotten through the first wave. Unlike many countries in Europe that have decreased cases, we still are at the plateau. For the last month, we're still seeing 30,000 cases a day.

GREENE: Then what does it mean when we talk about a second wave? I mean, states are beginning to reopen. We're seeing the curve flattened⁴ in some places. Are we going to get to a point where life gets closer to back to normal and then all of a sudden we're having to take all these precautions again and we see cases starting to spike⁵ again?

KHAN: I think that's what people are talking about, is that potentially cases could spike again. So even though we call it a pandemic, it's really multiple hundreds of different outbreaks in the U.S. going on at the same time. So the greater New York area, for example, is seeing a decrease in cases without a doubt. But Chicago is seeing an increase in cases. So as we reopen, it's important to recognize that we haven't canceled the pandemic. We just are able to reopen because we've got a better sense on the availability of health care resources within our communities and we're not, you know, increasing our cases every day. We're sort of plateauing our cases. And we're hoping that we'll slowly start to decrease our cases. But there's a lot that we can talk about of, you know, what we're hoping to happen as now we reopen our economy.

GREENE: So just to be clear, this is not going to feel like here we go again, the exact same course. This is going to be like putting out different fires in different parts of the country. And maybe, you know, a lot of fires would be burning at once and it would feel like sort of a second wave coming.

KHAN: Correct. That's why it would probably - that's potentially what it could look like. You know, some people talked about this as being sort of a mountain range as opposed to sort of a big peak again. So again, this is a brand-new virus. It's a good time to remind people that 90% of America is probably still susceptible⁶. And if you weren't on the East Coast, you might think - oh, this wasn't so bad. But lots of people are still susceptible to this disease. And that's why there's this concern about a second wave of seeing additional spikes⁷ in cases, especially in large metropolitan⁸ areas that were spared - relatively⁹ spared - during the first spike in the United States.

GREENE: I want to listen to a little bit of sound here from President Trump¹⁰. This is in an interview yesterday with ABC. I mean, he was basically saying that there will likely be more deaths as states begin to relax their restrictions¹¹ and relax these stay-at-home orders.

(SOUNDBITE OF ABC BROADCAST)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's possible there will be some because you won't be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is. But at the same time, we're going to practice social distancing. We're going to be washing hands. We're going to be doing a lot of the things that we've learned to do over the last period of time. And we have to get our country back.

GREENE: Dr. Khan, I mean, the president there is speaking as he is talking about winding¹² down his White House task force dealing¹³ with this crisis, trying to strike a balance, in his words, you know, to move on and try to get the economy opened. Do you like what you're seeing from this government in terms of finding that balance?

KHAN: So he is correct that the new normal will include the fact that we need to protect ourselves because the pandemic - we may be opening up, but we haven't canceled the pandemic. So we will be washing hands. We will be wearing masks. And we will be continuing to social distance. But what's most important is we need to continue to decrease community transmissions. We need to continue to work on efforts to make it less likely for any of us to get infected. And that part is the public health part. And so we need to make sure we have testing in America. We need to find those cases. We need to isolate¹⁴ them. We need to do the contact tracing. And we need to make sure we're quarantining people.

So that piece needs to happen, and that's currently not happening as much as it should. So we're testing about 250,000 people a day right now. We should be testing 350,000 to 700,000 people a day right now. We need to combine that with good protocols¹⁵ in all sorts of settings where we're likely to have higher risk - so schools, for example, that are going to reopen, other large businesses, warehouses¹⁶. We're already seeing this, obviously, in prisons and meatpacking places, et cetera. And we need to make sure health care is protected, health care workers are protected. So all these things need to be put in place to make sure as we reopen, we reopen safely and minimize the risk for Americans as they go out and about their business.

GREENE: Well, can I ask you very specifically about that? I mean, I couldn't help but noticing when the president was in Arizona yesterday, he was at a factory that is making masks. He was not himself wearing a mask. And I started thinking to myself, what would a doctor like yourself tell me? If I went to visit a factory like that, should I be wearing a mask as I go forward in the coming weeks and months?

KHAN: Everybody should be wearing a mask.

GREENE: Why is that so important?

KHAN: It's important for two reasons. The main reason it's important and why this disease has been so bedeviling to us is that you are infectious probably at least two days before you feel sick. So that's a problem because even if you're a wonderful citizen and when you're sick, you stay home, perfect. But two days before you feel sick, you're out and about the world and you're actually infecting people. So wearing a mask is called source protection, and then you're not infecting other people. And then, also, you don't want people spitting and coughing and sneezing in your face.

GREENE: Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the CDC. Thanks so much for your time this morning.

KHAN: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

1 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

3 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

4 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

5 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

6 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

7 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

15 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

16 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。