时代周刊:病毒刚刚来袭 美国农村就已放松警惕(4)（在线收听）

Starting in early April, Idaho Republican state representative Heather Scott, who represents Bonner County, urged her constituents to do just that.

代表邦纳县的爱达荷州共和党众议员希瑟·斯科特4月初就已开始敦促其选民反击。

"The lying Trump-hating media, who continues to push global and socialist agendas,

“仇视特朗普，满嘴谎言的媒体现在还在推动全球议程和社会主义议程，

has told us there is an emergency," Scott says in an April 2 video update sent through her official legislative account.

就是他们跟我们说情况十分紧急的，”斯科特4月2日在通过她的官方立法账户发送的视频更新中说道。

The governor had "bought into this frenzy" by issuing stay-at-home guidelines, she said, and they would not end without public pressure.

连州长都“加入了这股狂热”，颁布了居家隔离方针，她说，大家要是不给他们点颜色，他们是不会消停的。

Such calls to action worry health officials like Moehrle, of the Idaho North Central District public-health department,

这样的行动号召引发了莫勒——爱达荷州北中区公共卫生部门工作人员——等医护人员的担忧，

in part because she knows they will fall on fertile ground in her five rural counties

她知道，这些召唤能够在她负责的五个农村县得到热烈的反响，

where the natural social distancing of life makes many feel immune.

因为那里的居民本就过着鸡犬不闻的生活，他们会觉得自己能够因此逃过一劫。

"Many are thinking this is not a big deal, being isolated is their lifestyle," she says.

“很多人都过着比较遗世独立的生活，在他们眼里，这次的疫情根本就不是什么大风大浪，”她说。

The conundrum is that, while the danger for rural counties is real and growing, outbreaks are very hard to predict.

让人头疼的是，农村县面临的危险不仅真实存在，还在与日俱增，我们却很难预测疫情究竟何时会在这些地方爆发。

The tools that would help—testing and contact tracing—remain sparse.

有效的工具——测试和接触追踪等——仍然少之又少。

Until they become available, the only certainty is the vulnerability of the residents.

在获得这些工具之前，唯一可以确定的就是当地居民已经岌岌可危。

Moehrle's five counties have the largest elderly population in the state but just 15 ICU beds.

莫勒负责的五个县有着该州最多的老年人口，却只有15张ICU床位。

As of May 4, her district had a total of 69 cases (16 of them just in the previous week) and 13 deaths.

截至5月4日，她的地区便已出现69例感染病例(有16例均感染于一周前)，其中还有13例死亡病例。

Her department has prepared for a late wave, she tells TIME,

她告诉《时代》周刊，其部门已经做好了应对姗姗来迟的疫情的准备，

using the weeks of Governor Little's stay-at-home order to attempt to stock protective gear and prepare their health system as much as possible.

他们将会利用州长利特尔下令居家隔离的几周时间努力储备防护装备，并尽可能地准备好医疗系统备用。

For many of their residents, a surge in cases will mean death.

对这些地区的许多居民而言，病例激增就意味着死亡。

"We just have nothing to offer them, no vaccines, no treatment," Moehrle says.

“我们什么都拿不出来，没有疫苗，也没有治疗手段，”莫勒说。

"We're still waiting for our bomb to hit."

“我们还在等我们的炸弹爆炸。”

EVEN as President Trump touted early opening in rural areas,

尽管特朗普总统鼓吹要早日开放农村地区，

federal health officials funded mitigation measures against the outbreaks expected there.

联邦卫生官员还是对缓解预计也会在当地爆发的疫情的措施予以了资助。

On April 22, the Department of Health and Human Services announced

4月22日，卫生部宣布，

it would award $165 million in extra funds to 1,779 small rural hospitals to combat the pandemic,

该部门将向1779家小型乡村医院额外拨款1.65亿美元用于抗击新冠疫情，

as well as additional resources to 14 telehealth resource centers.

此外还会向14个远程医疗资源中心提供额外资源。

Roughly $2.3 million of that will go to programs in Idaho,

爱达荷州的抗疫项目将分到230万美元左右，

$3.9 million to Kentucky, $5.4 million to Nebraska and $5.1 million to Oklahoma.

肯塔基州390万美元，内布拉斯加州540万美元，俄克拉何马州510万美元。

Federal guidance has been a mixed bag.

联邦政府的指导意见则是时好时坏。

According to Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

根据疾控中心主任罗伯特·雷德菲尔德的说法，

"reopening the U.S. will be a careful, data-driven, county-by-county approach" designed to balance public health and the need to restart the economy.

“复工复产复学需谨慎、要以数据为依据，还要一个县一个县地来”，要以平衡公共卫生和重启经济这一需求为宗旨。

In some regions, the need to balance risk is pretty clear:

就部分地区的情况而言，平衡风险的需要更加显眼：

small towns like Mangum that have suffered outbreaks have found themselves shunned by their neighbors.

类似曼古姆那样已经体验过疫情爆发的小镇发现，邻居们都开始回避自己了。

"All the little towns around us started saying, 'Don't go to Mangum,' and I don't blame them," says Mayor Scott.

“周边所有小镇都变成了，‘不要去曼古姆’这种态度，不过我不怪他们，”斯科特市长说。