作者警告說，抗擊COVID-19就像是“打鼴鼠”

作者警告說，抗擊COVID-19就像是“打鼴鼠”

Two years ago, science writer Ed Yong wrote an article for The Atlantic in which he warned that a new global pandemic was inevitable — and that the world would be unprepared for it when it arrived. Now, with the outbreak of COVID-19. much of what Yong warned about in his reporting has come true.

兩年前，科學(xué)作家Ed Yong為《大西洋月刊》上寫了一篇文章，他在文章中警告說，一場新的全球大流行是不可避免的，當(dāng)它到來時，世界將對此毫無準備?，F(xiàn)在，隨著COVID-19的爆發(fā)，很多Yong在報告中警告過的事情都變成了現(xiàn)實。

Yong says scientists are still working to understand how the novel coronavirus travels through air. His latest article for The Atlantic concerns whether or not people beyond health care workers and other front-line personnel should be wearing some sort of mask to help prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Yong說，科學(xué)家們?nèi)栽谘芯窟@種新型冠狀病毒是如何在空氣中傳播的。他最近在《大西洋月刊》上發(fā)表的一篇文章關(guān)注的是，除了醫(yī)護人員和其他前線人員之外，人們是否應(yīng)該戴上某種口罩，以幫助預(yù)防冠狀病毒的傳播。

Yong notes that there are two ways in which respiratory viruses typically travel through air: as droplets of fluid and as evaporated specks of fluid called "aerosols."

Yong指出，呼吸道病毒通常通過兩種方式在空氣中傳播：一種是以液滴的形式傳播，另一種是以蒸發(fā)的液滴的形式傳播，稱為“氣溶膠”

He adds that it's not yet clear whether live infectious viral particles remain in the air where infected people have been: "That's the crucial thing to know," he says. "And then really, crucially, are there enough of those viral particles to actually start an infection? We don't know the answer to that yet."

他補充說，目前還不清楚是否有活的傳染性病毒顆粒存在于被感染者曾經(jīng)呆過的地方:“這是需要了解的關(guān)鍵問題，”他說。“然后，真正重要的是，這些病毒顆粒是否足夠引起感染?”我們還不知道答案。”

Interview Highlights

采訪重點

On what we know about how the virus travels through the air and how we're susceptible to inhaling it

關(guān)于病毒是如何在空氣中傳播的以及我們是如何容易被吸入的

There was one study that just shot virus-laden fluids into a rotating cylinder to create a cloud of aerosols. And they found that within that cloud, the virus remained stable for several hours, which suggests that it can at least survive in the air around us. Now, that's a pretty artificial setup. That's probably closer to a medically invasive procedure like intubation, rather than someone just breathing when they're walking down the street or sitting in a room. So it's hard to know what to make of that outside the health care setting.

有一項研究剛剛將攜帶病毒的液體射入一個旋轉(zhuǎn)的圓筒中，從而產(chǎn)生氣溶膠云。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在那個云層里，病毒保持穩(wěn)定了幾個小時，這表明它至少可以在我們周圍的空氣中存活。這是一個非常人為的設(shè)置。這可能更接近于一種醫(yī)學(xué)上的侵入性操作，比如插管，而不是一個人在街上走或者坐在房間里的時候呼吸。因此，我們很難知道在醫(yī)療保健體系之外，該如何看待這一問題。

But there are other studies that suggest that the coronavirus can be released into the air in less dramatic ways. For example, a new [study] released by the University of Nebraska Medical Center looked for traces of the virus' genetic material in the rooms of several patients who had COVID-19 — many of whom only had mild symptoms. So they found traces of that genetic material on lots of different surfaces, including hard to reach spots like ventilation grates and the floors beneath beds. That's consistent with the idea that the virus is moving through the air over distances longer than a droplet might land.

但也有其他研究表明，冠狀病毒可以以不那么劇烈的方式釋放到空氣中。例如，內(nèi)布拉斯加大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心發(fā)布的一項新的研究，在幾個感染了COVID-19的病人的房間里尋找病毒遺傳物質(zhì)的痕跡，這些病人中有許多只有輕微的癥狀。因此，他們在許多不同的表面上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種遺傳物質(zhì)的痕跡，包括難以觸及的地方，比如通風(fēng)柵和床下的地板。這與病毒在空氣中傳播的距離比液滴著陸的距離要長這一觀點是一致的。

On how thinking about masks for the general population might be changing

普通大眾對口罩的看法可能會發(fā)生怎樣的變化

Confusion is completely understandable, because even among the experts who I've spoken to — including people who've studied airborne transmission and its possibility — opinion is divided on the role of masks and how much protection they can provide. There's just a mess of data on whether masks worn by the general population will provide protection against respiratory illnesses in general; whether masks prevent you, if you are infected, from infecting other people. I think that's a little clearer, both from the evidence and just through common sense. And that might matter a lot for a disease like COVID-19.

困惑是完全可以理解的，因為即使在我交談過的專家中——包括研究空氣傳播及其可能性的專家——對口罩的作用和它們能提供多少保護也存在分歧。關(guān)于普通人群戴的口罩是否能在總體上預(yù)防呼吸道疾病，有一大堆數(shù)據(jù);如果你被感染了，口罩是否能防止你感染他人。我認為，無論是從證據(jù)還是從常識來看，這都更清楚一些。這可能對COVID-19這樣的疾病很重要。

We know that the virus behind it can spread from one person to another before they show symptoms, and that is perhaps the strongest argument for widespread usage of masks. Even if you aren't currently coughing or sneezing or breaking into a fever, you might not know that you have a virus, and wearing a mask might stop you from spreading that virus to someone else.

我們知道，它背后的病毒可以在人出現(xiàn)癥狀之前從一個人傳播到另一個人，這可能是廣泛使用口罩的最有力的論據(jù)。即使你現(xiàn)在沒有咳嗽、打噴嚏或發(fā)高燒，你也可能不知道你感染了病毒，戴口罩可能會阻止你把病毒傳染給別人。

On why touching your mask negates its protection

為什么觸摸你的口罩會抵消它的保護作用

Almost everyone I've spoken to who has experience of actually using the masks properly, but somebody do not. They pull the mask over their chin, wipe their faces. They touch the masks constantly. They're always adjusting it. And that carries a risk, and maybe the risk is that you do lure yourself into a false sense of security, thinking you're safe, but in a situation when you're actually increasing the likelihood of infection.

幾乎所有和我交談過的人都有正確使用口罩的經(jīng)驗，但有些人不會正確使用。他們幾乎總是會弄錯。他們把面罩劃過臉，拉到下巴上。他們不停地觸摸口罩。他們總是在調(diào)整。這是有風(fēng)險的，風(fēng)險可能是你會讓自己產(chǎn)生一種錯誤的安全感，以為自己是安全的，但實際上你是在增加感染的可能性。