美國衛生專家：追蹤接觸者是抗疫最強大武器

新冠肺炎疫情暴發以來，追蹤接觸者成爲阻止病毒傳播的最有力武器。一些國家推出新冠病毒接觸者追蹤app，還有一些國家培訓並僱用了接觸者追蹤員，減緩了病毒的傳播，爲抗擊疫情爭取了時間。

Whenever a new infectious disease emerges, contact tracing is public health’s most powerful weapon for tracking transmission and figuring out how best to protect the population.

每當一種新傳染病出現時，公共衛生部門就需要追蹤傳播路徑並確定保護國民的最佳方案，而追蹤接觸者就是其最強大的武器。

But now, as coronavirus cases are surging in hot spots across the United States, the proven strategy’s effectiveness is in doubt: Contact tracing failed to stanch the first wave of coronavirus infections, and today’s far more extensive undertaking will require 100,000 or more trained tracers to delve into strangers’ personal lives and persuade even some without symptoms to stay home.

現在，隨着新冠肺炎病例在美國各熱點地區大幅增加，這項歷經考驗的策略的有效性卻受到質疑：它沒能遏制第一波病毒傳染，而且今天這項工作的規模過於龐大，需要至少10萬名訓練有素的追蹤員，探究陌生人的個人生活，甚至勸說一些沒有症狀的人呆在家裏。

stanch [stɑːntʃ]：vt.平息

“We don’t have a great track record in the United States of trust in the public health system,” said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. Ever since the 40-year Tuskegee experiment, which withheld treatment for syphilis from poor black men, officials have had to make special efforts, he said, to reach those now “disproportionately impacted by covid who are African Americans and Latinos.”

美國全國性病科主任聯盟負責人戴維·C·哈維說：“在美國，人們向來對公共衛生系統缺乏信任。”長達40年的“塔斯基吉實驗”阻止貧困的黑人梅毒患者接受治療。自該醜聞被曝光以來，官員們就必須付出額外努力才能與那些非洲裔和拉美裔患者取得聯繫。在目前受到新冠肺炎影響的人羣中，這些人羣的比例異常地高。

Still, as states relax restrictions, public health experts say wide-scale contact tracing is the price that must be paid to reopen safely without reverting to the blanket shutdowns that put nearly 40 million Americans out of work. Time is of the essence, they say, taking advantage of the drop in cases resulting from the shutdowns.

儘管如此，公共衛生專家說，隨着各州放鬆限制措施，要想安全地重啓經濟、避免再次陷入導致近4000萬美國人失業的全面封鎖狀態，大規模追蹤接觸者是必不可少的。他們說，時間是關鍵因素，要利用好病例數量因封鎖措施而下降的這段時機。

“Contact tracing is finding the next generation before they happen, getting ahead of that transmission cycle to stop it,” said Emily Gurley, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the instructor of the school’s new six-hour online contact-tracing course. Gurley doesn’t believe the strategy will stop transmission but that, in concert with testing and other measures, it can prevent the disease from spreading exponentially.

約翰斯·霍普金斯-布隆伯格公共衛生學院流行病學家、該學院最新版6學時接觸者追蹤線上課程導師埃米莉·格利說：“追蹤接觸者就是預先找到下一代病例，要趕在傳播週期之前阻止它。”格利認爲這一策略並不能阻止疾病傳播，但配合檢測等措施，可阻止新冠肺炎加速擴散。

in concert with：和…相呼應；與…合作

exponentially [ˌekspəˈnenʃəli]：adv.以指數方式

Right now, though, the virus is showing signs of taking the lead again, as states relax restrictions on large gatherings and welcome customers back into bars, restaurants and movie theaters. Cases are on the rise in more than 20 states across the country, with new highs in Arizona, Texas and Florida.

不過就目前而言，隨着各州放鬆對大型聚會的限制並鼓勵消費者重返酒吧、餐廳和電影院，病毒呈現出捲土重來的跡象。在美國20多個州，確診病例再次增長，亞利桑那州、得克薩斯州和佛羅里達州的確診病例增量達到新高。

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey reopened the state before local health departments had trained its new army of contact tracers, said Will Humble, former director of the state’s health department.

亞利桑那州前衛生局局長威爾·亨布爾說，州長道格·杜西在當地衛生部門訓練新的接觸者追蹤員隊伍之前就重啓了經濟。

Humble described case investigation and contact tracing as key elements of a multipronged response, including mask-wearing and social distancing.

亨布爾認爲，調查病例和追蹤接觸者是多管齊下應對疫情的關鍵要素，其他應對措施包括佩戴口罩和保持社交距離。

multipronged[,mʌltɪ'prɒŋd]：具有多種要素的

Texas, also seeing a dramatic surge, has relaxed restrictions after hiring about 3,000 of the 4,000 contact tracers Gov. Greg Abbott said in April he planned to have in place as part of his reopening strategy.

得克薩斯州的確診病例同樣大幅增加。該州在僱用大約3000名接觸者追蹤員之後放鬆了限制。州長格雷格·阿博特4月份曾表示，作爲重啓戰略的一部分，該州將部署4000名追蹤員。

Michael Sweat, director of the Center for Global Health at the Medical University of South Carolina, said that state’s health department, which has suffered from long-term underfunding, was trying hard to ramp up contact tracing as parts of the state suffer “worrisome micro-epidemics.”

南卡羅來納醫科大學全球衛生中心主任邁克爾·斯韋特說，在南卡羅來納州部分地區出現“令人擔憂的小規模疫情”之際，該州衛生部門雖然長期資金不足，但仍努力加大接觸者追蹤力度。

The University of California at San Francisco has been tapped by the state to create a Pandemic Workforce Training Academy that will train as many as 3,000 people for the state’s 58 county health departments, many of them focusing on low-income communities where requests to self-isolate can be financially devastating.

加利福尼亞州委託加利福尼亞大學舊金山分校成立了一個“大流行病工作者培訓學院”。該學院將爲該州58個縣級衛生部門培訓多達3000人，其中很多人將專注於低收入社區，因爲自我隔離措施可能給那裏的居民造成嚴重的財務損失。

In San Francisco, librarian Ramses Escobedo, who became a contact tracer after two weeks of training, said the health department gave out a 60-page instruction document. “It has information from the scripts you’re supposed to follow, the questions you’re supposed to ask.”

在舊金山，圖書管理員拉美西斯·埃斯科比多在經過兩週的培訓後成爲了一名接觸者追蹤員，他說衛生部門發放了一份60頁的指導文件。“文件中包含你應該遵循的信息和你應該問的問題。”

Of the 30 people Escobedo spoke to in his first three weeks as a contact tracer, only one refused to answer his questions.

在埃斯科比多作爲接觸者追蹤員最初三週詢問的30人中，只有一人拒絕回答他的問題。