VOA慢速英语2020 抗议和缺乏信任破坏冠状病毒控制措施（在线收听）

Protests, Lack of Trust Undo Coronavirus Control

抗议和缺乏信任破坏冠状病毒控制措施

Over the past week, people across the United States have been protesting the death of George Floyd.

过去一周，全美各地民众一直在抗议乔治·弗洛伊德之死。

The 46-year-old black man died while being held by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Videos of Floyd's death show a white police officer keeping a knee pressed on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe."

这名46岁的黑人男子在被明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市警方拘押期间死亡。拍下弗洛伊德死亡过程的视频显示，一名白人警察跪压在弗洛伊德的脖子上近9分钟之久。可以听到弗洛伊德一直在说“我无法呼吸”。

The protests — and police actions to control them — are threatening to undo American health officials' efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

抗议活动以及警方为控制抗议所采取的行动可能会令美国卫生官员遏制新冠肺炎蔓延的努力付之东流。

Health experts need newly infected people to remember everyone they were in contact with in the days leading up to their confirmed sickness. This helps to let others know they may have been exposed — and prevent those people from spreading the disease even more.

卫生专家需要新感染者记住他们在确诊前几天接触过的所有人。这有助于让他人知道他们可能有过接触，从而阻止这些人继续传播疾病。

The process is known as contact tracing. It depends on people being able to know who they came close to. That is no easy task if someone has attended a protest with hundreds or even thousands of other people.

这个过程被称为接触者追踪。其取决于人们能否知道他们与谁近距离接触过。如果有人与数百人甚至数千人一起参加了抗议活动，要想完成这一过程绝非易事。

The process also depends on something that may be in especially short supply right now: Trust in government.

这个过程还取决于目前可能极为短缺的东西：对政府的信任。

"These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need," said Dr. Sandro Galea. He leads Boston University's School of Public Health.

桑德罗·盖利说：“现在正在发生的这些事件会进一步威胁我们所需要的信任。”盖利是波士顿大学公共卫生学院院长。

Government officials hope to continue reopening businesses, religious centers and other organizations after months of stay-at-home orders and other infection-prevention measures. But health experts also hoped that reopening would include widespread testing, contact tracing and isolation to prevent new waves of illness from beginning.

政府官员希望，在执行数个月的居家令和其他预防感染措施之后，继续推进企业、宗教中心和其他机构重新开放。但卫生专家希望重新开放能涵盖广泛检测、接触者追踪和隔离，以防止新一轮疫情爆发。

It is unclear if the protests will lead to new outbreaks. The protests have taken place outside, where the virus does not spread as easily. Also, many of the protesters have been seen wearing face masks.

目前尚不清楚抗议活动是否会导致新一轮疫情。抗议活动在室外进行，而病毒在室外的传播能力不如室内强。另外，许多抗议者一直戴着口罩。

But experts still worry that public efforts to contain the disease in the future could be harmed.

但专家仍然担心，未来控制这种疾病的公共努力可能会受到损害。

In Los Angeles, the city's mayor announced Saturday that COVID-19 testing centers were being closed because of safety concerns related to violent protests. And some medical centers in Minneapolis that provide testing have been damaged in the protests, a government spokesperson said.

洛杉矶市市长周六宣布，出于暴力抗议引发的安全方面的考量，新冠肺炎检测中心将关闭。明尼阿波利斯市政府发言人表示，该市多家提供检测的医疗中心在抗议活动中受损。

Reduced testing could "be giving the virus another head start," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

田纳西州范德堡大学的传染病专家威廉·夏弗纳博士表示，减少检测可能“令病毒再次占得先机”。

Concern over contact tracing

关注接触者追踪

Contact tracing, which is only just getting started in several states, is an even bigger concern. It involves people who work for or with health departments asking questions about where a person has been and who they have been talking to — and getting full, truthful answers in return.

几个州刚刚开始进行的接触者追踪是更加重要的问题。这包括在卫生部门工作或与卫生部门合作的人询问人们去过哪里，他们与谁交谈过，以得到完整且真实的回答。

Schaffner said the current situation in the U.S. could make people less likely to speak with anyone working for the government.

夏弗纳表示，美国当前的局势使人们不太可能与任何政府工作人员交谈。

That is especially true in black communities dealing with police violence and long-held frustrations with how they are mistreated by people who work for government agencies. Those are also the communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus and are most in need of public health measures to help control the spread.

这在黑人社区尤为如此，他们要应对警方暴力执法，而且长期以来因受到政府机构工作人员的虐待而倍感沮丧。这些社区也是受到冠状病毒影响最严重的社区，而且最需要公共卫生措施来帮助控制病毒的传播。

In a press conference last week, Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington used the term "contact tracing" when describing an investigation into protesters who had been arrested in the state. He said the goal was to "see if there are any crime or white supremacy organizations" that caused violence and destruction and "to understand how...we go after them, legally."

在上周举行的记者会上，明尼苏达州公共安全专员约翰·哈灵顿在描述该州被捕抗议者接受调查时使用了“接触者追踪”一词。他说，目标是“确定是否存在任何犯罪或白人至少主义组织”引发暴力和破坏，同时“了解我们应该如何合法追捕他们。”

Harrington's use of "contact tracing" by law enforcement may make the job of health workers more difficult, some experts said.

一些专家表示，哈灵顿在执法行为中使用“接触者追踪”可能会令卫生工作者的工作更加艰难。

"That was an abuse of the word ‘contact tracing.' That is not what contact tracing is," said Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

美国疾病控制与预防中心前主任汤姆·弗里登博士说：“这是对‘接触者追踪’一词的滥用。这并不是接触者追踪。”

"Contact tracing is a service to patients and their contacts to provide services for patients and warning for contacts, Frieden said. "It has nothing to do with police activity. Nothing."

弗里登说：“接触者追踪是为患者及其接触者提供的服务，即为患者提供服务，并警告接触者。这与警方的活动无关。没有任何关系。”

Boston University's Galea said he hopes many people will separate in their minds the contact tracing done by public health workers from crime investigations by the police. But, he added, "I do think sometimes it's difficult to make a distinction when you feel...targeted by the entire government."

波士顿大学的盖利表示，他希望大多数人能区分公共卫生工作者进行的接触者追踪与警方的犯罪调查。但他同时表示，“我确实认为，有时当你觉得整个政府都在针对你时，很难进行区分。”

I'm Ashley Thompson.

阿什利·汤普森报道。