美国国家公共电台 NPR Ahead of new masking guidelines, White House wants to stop mixed messages

Ahead of new masking guidelines, White House wants to stop mixed messages

Transcript¹

In May, the last time the CDC released mask guidance, the messaging from the White House was a confusing mess. Public health experts say the White House needs to do a better job this time around.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The CDC is expected to put out updated guidance on masks. And public health experts are saying the agency and the White House need to be very deliberate about how they talk about it because the CDC's history of mixed messaging during this pandemic has sown a lot of confusion. Here's NPR's Tamara Keith.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE²: It was May 13, 2021. And CDC Director Rochelle Walensky surprised a lot of people when she announced those who were fully³ vaccinated⁴ need not wear masks anymore.

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ROCHELLE WALENSKY: If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, today is a great day for America.

KEITH: Within hours, President Biden was in the White House Rose Garden, celebrating.

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BIDEN: It's been made possible by the extraordinary success we've had in vaccinating⁵ so many Americans so quickly.

KEITH: Masks, which had become a potent⁶ symbol of the pandemic, a flashpoint in a divided nation, were no longer needed - or so everyone was told for a couple of months until the delta⁷ wave came. And evidence mounted that vaccinated people could still get COVID and spread it to others. At the time the policy was announced, there were concerns that unvaccinated people would unmask, too. And there would be no way of knowing. Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, saw another problem with the announcement.

ASHISH JHA: I actually think that removing the mask mandate⁸ made sense, but needed to be coupled with a very clear message that if we see more surges, we're going to have to put masks back on.

KEITH: Jha says that wasn't communicated clearly.

JHA: And so people really thought this was, somehow, a permanent thing. And then when masking needed to go back in place, people somehow came to understand that that was somehow a failure of vaccines⁹ or a reversal. It wasn't.

KEITH: Jha is among those advising the White House on how to prepare for the next phase of the pandemic. He's taken to describing masks as a tool akin¹⁰ to a raincoat.

JHA: You wear it when it's raining. You take it off when it stops raining. And if we think of masks in that way then, yeah, during surges, we should have masks. And everybody should be wearing them. And then when the surge ends, we should take off our masks.

KEITH: The CDC's Walensky has telegraphed the new guidance will be based on hospitalizations and severe disease rather than case numbers alone. And she's already talking about bringing masks back if they're needed.

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WALENSKY: We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen.

KEITH: The decision to relax mask guidelines is politically fraught¹¹, despite the mantra from the White House and CDC that they are following the science. In most of the country, mask mandates¹² are coming down or already long gone, putting the CDC guidance out of touch with the reality most Americans are living. Meanwhile, those who are immunocompromised or have young children say they're feeling left behind. But George Washington University public health professor Leana Wen, who was critical of the CDC last May, says 2022 isn't 2021.

LEANA WEN: Now the vaccination¹³ rate overall is much higher. Children 5 and older have been able to be vaccinated since November. Omicron is also a milder variant¹⁴ and has swept through the country. And I think, as importantly, there is a recognition that we cannot be in a perpetual state of emergency.

KEITH: She argues there need to be clear, easy-to-understand metrics, off-ramps and on-ramps for when conditions change.

Tamara Keith, NPR News.

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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 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。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 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？

5 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

6 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

9 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。

10 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

11 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

12 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

13 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

14 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。