密歇根新闻广播 经历COVID-19大流行的新常态

Uncomfortable and uncertain: The new normal while living through the COVID-19 pandemic

Take precautions to slow the spread of the coronavirus or risk a return to lockdown. That was the message from Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state’s chief medical executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun at a Thursday press conference. On Friday, Whitmer went a step further, signing a new executive order that makes mask-wearing mandatory¹ in crowded public spaces.

It also requires businesses to refuse entry or service to people who refuse to wear a face covering. Violations² of the executive order could result in a fine of up to $500. Epidemiologists and public health officials have repeatedly emphasized the importance of wearing masks throughout the pandemic.

Ryan Malosh is an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He says the evidence shows that masks pretty clearly reduce your risk of contracting or spreading the virus. What is harder to measure is exactly how much they reduce that risk.

But the public health community shouldn’t be dismissive about people’s resistance to wearing masks, Malosh says. Wearing a mask really can make it harder to breathe and hold conversations.

“Wearing a mask is uncomfortable, right? And that’s something that we do have to get used to. Kind of downplaying the impact on people’s lives from wearing a mask is not something that we should be doing as public health professionals,” Malosh said.

Malosh cited a Harvard study that said without increased ICU capacity and without a vaccine³, COVID-19 will remain a threat to public safety into 2021 or even 2022. This means wearing masks is something we will all have to get used to, according to Malosh.

“I think developing those [school] plans now, are not inappropriate,” said Malosh. “I think the caveat⁴ is that if the situation changes, the plan will have to change as well.”

The other thing we’ll need to adjust to is uncertainty⁵. Take, for instance, the plans for opening schools.

Whitmer recently announced her guidelines for opening schools this fall along with a budget plan for the upcoming school year that uses $512 million in CARES Act funding to reimburse⁶ schools for COVID-related losses. But even as parents and school districts are making tentative plans for reopening this fall, Malosh says that we have to be willing to shift plans if coronavirus cases get too high.

President Donald Trump⁷ and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are both pushing for a full re-opening of schools this fall. Shortly after the president's statement, Whitmer said that she will be taking her cue from data, not politics.

“I want to make this clear — I will not send our kids and our education workforce⁸ into our schools unless it is safe to do so, plain and simple. I have made decisions based on science and facts to keep Michiganders safe since the beginning, and won’t stop now,” reads a tweet from Whitmer.

This post was written by Stateside production assistant Catherine Nouhan.

1 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

2 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。