时代周刊:病毒刚刚来袭 美国农村就已放松警惕(5)（在线收听）

But the virus spreads quietly.

然而，病毒还是悄悄地传播开了。

For many smaller counties, even a staggered "reopening" means the resumption of travel and commerce,

对许多小县而言，即便是错开“复工复产复学”节奏也意味着恢复旅游业和商业，

bringing goods, people and—quite possibly— coronavirus with them.

就会带来消费品，人，很有可能也会带来新冠病毒。

"Those areas have neighbors," said Lori Tremmel Freeman,

“那些地区周边也有社区，”

who heads the National Association of County and City Health Officials, "that may not be moving at the same pace."

美国县市卫生官员协会负责人洛里·特雷梅尔·弗里曼说，“他们就可能就不在一个频道上。”

Ultimately, the main infection route for rural America is coming from cities,

究其根本，美国农村的感染途径主要来自城市，

even smaller ones with fewer cases, as happened with Mangum and Tulsa.

即使是规模较小，病例也较少的小城市也不例外，比如曼古姆和塔尔萨这样的小城市。

To avoid a repeat of that, both urban and rural residents need to keep sacrificing,

为了避免重蹈覆辙，城乡居民都需继续做出一定牺牲，

says Bruce Dart, executive director of the Tulsa Health Department.

塔尔萨卫生部执行主任布鲁斯·达特说。

His own father, a 91-year-old Air Force veteran,

他自己的父亲，一位91岁的退伍空军士兵，

is struggling with the financial and psychological toll of closing down the restaurant bar that he has spent decades building up.

开了一家已经经营了数十年的餐吧，如今，也陷入了歇业带来的经济损失和心理负担之下。

"It'd be breaking my heart to see my business, my livelihood, go down the tubes," Dart says,

“看着我的生意，我的生计来源一落千丈我会很难过，”达特说，

but "once we open up, there will be a surge in cases, and as bad as the economic effects are, we can recover from that.

但“我们一旦营业，感染人数就会激增，（疫情给我们造成的）经济损失再大，我们也有东山再起的机会。

We can't recover from deaths."

命要是没了就真的没了。”

How long does rural America need to keep enforcing these measures to stay safe?

美国农村地区执行这些措施需要执行多久才能确保安全？

Government analysts, epidemiologists and local health officials give different answers,

政府分析人士、流行病学家和当地卫生官员给出了不同的答案，

but all agree that the demographics and hollowed-out health systems of small counties mean there is a danger until there is a vaccine.

但他们所有人都一致认为，小县的人口结构和漏洞百出的卫生系统意味着只要疫苗没有研制出来，这些地方就一直摆脱不了危险。

Nebraska should wait until at least early July to begin relaxing social-distancing guidelines or risk a second wave of infections,

从华盛顿大学健康指标和评估研究所的研究来看，内布拉斯加州至少要等到7月初才能开始放宽隔离限制，

according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

否则就会面临第二波感染风险。

The estimate for Kentucky, Idaho and Oklahoma hovers around mid-to-late June.

肯塔基州、爱达荷州和俄克拉何马州的预计放宽时间为6月中下旬左右。

But even then, relaxation of social distancing would come with conditions that could be impossible to implement in these areas:

然而，根据研究人员的说法，即便到了那时候，这些地方也根本无法满足放宽隔离限制的前提条件，

"containment strategies that include testing, contact tracing, isolation and limiting gathering size," according to the researchers.

即保障“检测、接触追踪、隔离和限制聚集规模等防控措施”的条件。

Public-health officials in some rural counties are worried they'll be drowned out if emotions overwhelm science before a second wave hits.

部分农村县的公共卫生官员担心，如果第二波疫情浪潮来袭之前情绪先压倒了科学，他们的立场就会被淹没。

In Bonner County, Idaho, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler released a letter on April 2

爱达荷州邦纳县警长达里尔·惠勒4月2日公开了一封信，

pressing Governor Little to call an emergency session of the state legislature

信的内容是敦促利特尔州长集结爱达荷州的立法机构召开紧急会议，

to assess whether public-health officials had deceived Americans about the severity of the pandemic.

评估公共卫生官员是否就大流行的严重性欺骗了美国民众。

"I do not believe suspending the Constitution was wise because COVID-19 is nothing like the plague," he wrote.

“我认为暂停宪法并非明智之举，因为新冠肺炎和瘟疫完全是两码事，”他写道。

In response, more than 320 county medical professionals published a letter in the local newspaper

随后，320多名县级医护人员也在当地报纸上发表了一封信，

asking people to "stay the course" and trust their health officials despite the apparent low rate of cases.

请求民众“坚持到底”，即便表面的感染比例仍比较低，也要相信他们的卫生官员（的劝诫）。

"Idaho has gone from less than 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases to over 1,000 cases in the last 20 days," they wrote.

“过去20天，爱达荷州的确诊人数就从不到10人增加到了1000人不止，”他们写道。

"Our regional ICU capacity is already stretched, and the pandemic has yet to fully penetrate our area.

“我们当地接待ICU病患的能力已经捉襟见肘了，问题是大流行还没有完全渗透我们这儿。

This is a health emergency!"

这就是卫生紧急事件！”