VOA慢速英语--新冠病毒危机显示美国和欧洲安全网失衡

Contact Tracers Work to Stop the Spread of the Coronavirus

Around the world, special health workers are playing a part in efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They are serving as contact tracers.

Contact tracing¹ involves investigative and nursing skills, among others. Tracers seek information from COVID-19 patients about their contacts with other people. The goal is to create a map of every place an infected person has been and who they have met.

Some countries have developed national systems. In the United States, programs are created by the states.

Mackenzie Bray² is a contact tracer in the state of Utah.

She usually investigates sexually-passed diseases³. Now, she is one of 130 people at the Salt Lake County⁴ health department ordered to track coronavirus cases in the Salt Lake City area. The investigators⁶, many of them nurses, each work on 30 to 40 cases at a time. They try to talk to every person who came within 1.8 meters of the infected person for 10 minutes or more.

On one recent case, Bray called a retired⁷ man just confirmed to have COVID-19. She said she asked him many questions about who he had been near in the seven days before the call. She also suggested that he go through his bank statements to help him remember which stores he might have visited.

During the call, the man's wife said that family members had come to the couple's home on Mother's Day. Bray asked if the group had shared food or drinks. The answer was yes. Suddenly, the contact tracer had more people to call.

Tracers try to contact every person who came within two meters of an infected person. They remain in touch with some of the people throughout the 14-day virus incubation period. A single telephone call can take 30 minutes or more as tracers must ask a long list of questions.

Some experts estimate⁸ that 300,000 contract tracers might be needed in the U.S. to limit the spread of the coronavirus. States like Utah say they have enough, but other states say they need hundreds or even thousands more.

The contact tracers often deal with a lot of conflicting information. Language and culture barriers can add misunderstanding into the data. Sometimes people do not answer questions from tracers truthfully, by accident or purposely.

Health investigator⁵ Maria DiCaro was in contact with one infected man who suddenly stopped returning DiCaro's calls. She discovered he had been sleeping in his car because of marriage problems. DiCaro found out when she questioned the man's child.

DiCaro said she needs people to cooperate⁹ with her. No one is legally required to answer questions. So, she has found that treating people with kindness works¹⁰ better than strong words.

Bray, the Utah investigator, said, "People sometimes think contact tracing is black and white but there is a lot of gray that goes into it."

Anissa Archuleta and members of her family were exposed to a man infected with coronavirus at a birthday party. DiCaro called the family every day for two weeks. During that time, the family was tested and found not to have the coronavirus. But, DiCaro learned¹¹ a lot about the family.

After a while, Archuleta began asking DiCaro about how she was doing and thanked her for caring about her and her family.

DiCaro said it made her feel good to hear the praise and thanks for her work.

"It's nice to be appreciated," she said.

I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

Words in This Story

incubation –n. the time it takes for an organism or virus to become fully developed

black and white --idiom

1 tracing   

追踪； 追查； 描摹； 摹图

参考例句：

• She is tracing laboriously now. 她正在费力地写。
• He knew they were tracing him. 他知道他们正在追踪他。

2 bray   

n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫

参考例句：

• She cut him off with a wild bray of laughter.她用刺耳的狂笑打断了他的讲话。
• The donkey brayed and tried to bolt.这头驴嘶叫着试图脱缰而逃。

3 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

4 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。

5 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

8 estimate   

n.估计，估量；评价，看法；vt.估计，估量

参考例句：

• We estimate the cost to be five thousand dollars.我们估计费用为5000美元。
• The lowest estimate would put the worth of the jewel at ＄200.按最低的评估这块宝石也值200美元。

9 cooperate   

vi.合作，协作，相配合

参考例句：

• We hope we can cooperate even more closely in the future.希望我们今后能更加密切地合作。
• I hope you can cooperate on this matter.我希望你在这件事上能给予合作。

10 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

11 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。