华盛顿邮报 美国秋季新冠卷土重来(2)

 

    And the fact that there's more infections is why? Is that a new type of COVID that's breaking through or what is it?

    为什么感染增加了呢? 这是一种正在突破的新型冠状病毒吗？还是什么？

    Yeah, it could be a couple of things. I mean, we've seen COVID rise in summer and winter before.

    可能有几种类型的病毒。我们在之前的夏季和冬季都看到过新冠感染的增加。

    And with the summer in particular, when it's really hot out and you have people traveling on vacation, doing international trips, going to weddings, it's just more opportunities for more people to be in the same room together and then to spread COVID.

    特别是在夏季，外面天气很热的时候，人们会去度假，去国际旅行，去参加婚礼，有更多的机会让许多人共处一室，新冠病毒得到了传播。

    We are also seeing a new variant¹ that's on the rise. That's EG.5.

    我们还看到一种新的变异毒株正在增加。这个变异毒株就是EG.5。

    There is a fast-spreading new subvariant of the coronavirus that's raising concerns among health officials around the world.

    又出现了一种快速传播的冠状病毒亚型，引起了世界各地卫生官员的担忧。

    The CDC says the EG.5 variant, otherwise known as Eris, now makes up the largest portion of new COVID-19 infections nationwide.

    美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，EG.5变异株，别名是Eris，目前在全国新冠病毒感染中所占的比例最大。

    So, for most of 2023, we've had this lineage of variants² called XBB and its various versions. That's made up most infections.

    在2023的大半年里，出现了新冠病毒变异株XBB及其系列变异株。大多人人因XBB系列病毒而感染。

    But now we're seeing about 20% of new cases are estimated to be linked to EG.5.

    但现在大约20%的新病例估计与EG.5有关。

    They're all part of the Omicron family.

    这些病毒都是奥密克戎家族的成员。

    But when you have something new like EG.5, there's evidence that it's more adept³ at overcoming immunity⁴ that we've been developing through past vaccination⁵ through our past infections.

    但是，当你发现像 EG.5这样的新病毒时，有证据表明这种病毒更善于克服我们通过过去的疫苗接种和病毒感染而产生的免疫力。

    So that's something that scientists are looking at right now.

    这就是目前科学家们正在研究的问题。

    But the good news is, there's no evidence that suggests that EG.5 is making people any sicker than the Omicron descendants that came before it.

    不过，好消息是，没有证据表明EG.5会比之前的奥密克戎变异毒株更致病。

    But it might be contributing to this rise in transmission.

    但EG.5可能会导致传播率上升。

    So, Fenit, the government is no longer mailing people free tests, and a lot of insurance companies are not covering it. So how should people think about testing?

    芬尼特，美国政府不再给人们邮寄免费试剂，很多保险公司也不对感染新冠承保。那么人们应该如何看待检测呢?

    I think this is one of the starkest⁶ examples of the consequence of ending the public-health emergency, because now it's much harder to get tested for COVID or it's a much more of a financial burden,我认为这是结束公共卫生紧急状况产生的后果中的最鲜明的例子之一，因为现在很难进行新冠检测，或者说，新冠检测更像是一种经济负担，because now every time you have a cough or a sniffle or every time you are in the same room as someone who later tested positive for COVID, you have to decide, "Is it worth the $10 to $15 per test to test myself for COVID?"因为现在每当你咳嗽或流鼻涕时，每当你和后来新冠检测呈阳性的人共处一室时，都必须做出决定，“为了检测是否阳了，每次花10到15美元测试值吗？”

    And particularly if you have to test multiple times over a whole week and particularly for parents of small kids, those costs can add up when you have a big family that all needs to be tested, too.

    特别是如果你必须在一周内进行多次新冠检测，特别是对于有小孩的父母来说，有一个需要检测的大家庭，这些成本就会增加。

    So, in terms of, like, how people should navigate⁷ this one, there are free tests that are still out there.

    就人们应该如何处理这个问题而言，仍然有地方提供免费的检测。

    You can check with your local government. You can check with your employer or your doctor's office to see if any of them are still giving out free tests.

    你可以向当地政府查询。你可以向雇主或诊所查询，看看他们是否还在提供免费检测。

    If you're a lower-income person, a lot of federally qualified⁸ health centers are still distributing free tests, as well.

    如果你收入较低，很多具有联邦资质的健康中心仍在分发免费的试剂。

    And Medicaid is covering the cost of over-the-counter tests until fall 2024.

    在2024年秋季前，医疗补助可以报销非处方检测的费用。

    And then, in terms of when should you get tests, this is a tricky⁹ one, because I haven't really seen clear guidance coming out of the federal government on, "What are the parameters¹⁰ for getting tested?"就检测时间而言，这是一个棘手的问题，因为我还没有看到联邦政府出台明确的指导意见，“接受检测的规范是什么?”

    I do think if you have symptoms and if you've had a known exposure, that is probably one of the biggest triggers for getting tested.

    我确实认为，如果出现若干症状，如果已经接触了感染者，这可能是触发检测的最大动机之一。

    And, also, if you are someone over the age of 65 or if you fall in a high-risk group, where you would benefit from getting on antivirals to prevent the progression of coronavirus into severe illness.

    如果你的年龄在65岁以上，或者你属于高危人群，你可能会从服用抗病毒药物中受益，从而防止冠状病毒发展成严重疾病。

    It's worth getting tested early on, because antivirals are best administered in the early days of disease.

    尽早进行检测是值得的，因为抗病毒药物最好在病程早期使用。

1 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。

2 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

3 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

4 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。

5 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。

6 starkest   

（指区别）明显的( stark的最高级 )； 完全的； 了无修饰的； 僵硬的

参考例句：

• Among the starkest-and the most worrying-have been measures of world trade. 而最典型也是最让人担心的是世界贸易的方式。
• Climate change and the depleted ozone layer are among the starkest examples. 气候变化和臭氧层耗减就是其中最明显的例子。

7 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

8 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

9 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

10 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。