美国国家公共电台 NPR--This year's holiday season is making infectious disease doctors very nervous

This year's holiday season is making infectious disease doctors very nervous

Transcript¹

Looming² over the holiday season this winter are three viruses instead of two: RSV, COVID and flu.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

All right. This week kicked off the holiday season. So you take lots of people traveling for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, you add it with getting together with family and friends and that equals infectious disease doctors getting very, very nervous, and not just because of COVID this year. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein joins us now to explain. Rob, for the last two years, Thanksgiving helped ignite some pretty big surges of COVID. So what's the situation like this year?

ROB STEIN, BYLINE³: You know, A, it's quite different. You know, the last two years, the big concern was the pandemic. And for good reason. Thanksgiving acted almost like big super spreader events. This third pandemic winter, COVID is still with us, but the picture is much more complicated in both good ways and bad.

MART?NEZ: All right. Let's start with the good ways.

STEIN: Yeah. So the good news is the situation with COVID is much better. Don't get me wrong, it's not great by any means. The virus is still infecting tens of thousands and killing⁴ hundreds every day. And new omicron subvariants are taking over that are even better at sneaking⁵ around the immune system. And that means lots of people are still catching⁶ the virus, even if they're vaccinated⁷ and boosted or already had COVID. And the holidays could easily make that worse. But the immunity⁸ people have from all those shots and infections should keep most from getting so sick they end up in a hospital or die. And the new bivalent omicron boosters should help reinforce people's immunity. I talked about this with Dr. Ashish Jha at the White House.

ASHISH JHA: I'm hopeful, given where we are with this outbreak, with COVID, that we're not looking at something like last winter. But look, at the end of the day, Mother Nature gets the final word on these things.

STEIN: And that's because we're not just dealing⁹ with a pandemic this year. We're now facing what many infectious disease specialists are calling a tripledemic.

MART?NEZ: A tripledemic. Great.

STEIN: Yeah.

MART?NEZ: What does that mean, Rob?

STEIN: Yeah. Well, you know, during the pandemic, other respiratory viruses were mostly no-shows because of everything everyone did to stop COVID from spreading. But now that life has mostly gotten back to normal, all those viruses aren't just back, they're back with a vengeance¹⁰. RSV rebounded¹¹ really early by infecting all the pandemic babies who essentially¹² had no immunity because they were so isolated¹³ the last two years. And that's overwhelming children's hospitals. And then the worst flu season in years took off early as well, making more kids sick with a flu bug¹⁴ that's also hitting their grandparents hard. I talked about this with Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern.

TINA TAN: Because RSV and flu and COVID can all cause really severe disease, it's really going to put a strain on the hospital systems, very much like we saw with that first wave of COVID, where the hospital systems in some places were just completely overwhelmed.

STEIN: So Tan and others are urging people to do whatever they can to help keep that from happening.

MART?NEZ: All right. Which is what?

STEIN: Well, you know, for starters, get a flu shot. It's not too late. And also get a new bivalent omicron booster while you're at it. We're still waiting for data on how well those boosters work, especially against the latest crop of subvariants. But they certainly can't hurt. And people should dust off all their COVID habits. You know, stay home if they're sick, open windows as much as possible, wash their hands and even put those masks back on, especially around babies and other vulnerable family and friends.

The good news, A, is RSV might already be peaking, and there's a chance the flu could come and go quickly, too. There's even a theory that the flu and RSV could help tamp¹⁵ down COVID this year like COVID did to those viruses the last two years. But, you know, all we really know for sure is that this unusual mix of respiratory bugs¹⁶ is making this holiday season incredibly unpredictable.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR health correspondent Rob Stein. Rob, thanks.

STEIN: Sure thing, A.

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 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

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 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 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？

8 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

9 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。

10 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

11 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

14 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

15 tamp   

v.捣实，砸实

参考例句：

• Then I tamp down the soil with the back of a rake.然后我用耙子的背将土壤拍实。
• Philpott tamped a wad of tobacco into his pipe.菲尔波特往烟斗里塞了一卷碎烟叶。

16 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》