中英对照：自满情绪会让疫情秋季再度卷土重来

 

 

加拿大去年此时正值疫情低潮，举国上下都洋溢在击败了病毒的得意的氛围里。随着新增病例和死亡人数都达到全球最低，新冠疫情似乎得到了控制，生活也逐渐趋于正常。当然，功劳该属于那些严于律己，老老实实遵守政府制定的从戴口罩到保持社交距离等规定的加国人士。但成绩是自满情绪的温床。随着虚假安全感的滋生，加国人士放松了警惕，违背健康规则和社交距离法规的行为也不断蔓延。当天气逐渐变冷，凶狠的病毒掀起第二波浪潮，给医疗系统及其他领域带来更为严重的破坏。

 

Canada was in a triumphant mood the same time last year, celebrating victories in the Covid battles. With new case counts and death tolls dropping to the global low, the pandemic seemed under control as life gradually returned to normal. Credit went to the highly disciplined Canadians who strictly followed the government Covid guidelines – from masks wearing to social distancing.  But success bred complacency. A false sense of security made us dropping off our guards, prompting disobedience towards the public health protocols and social distancing rules. When the weather became colder, the vicious virus made a comeback, wreaking havoc on the healthcare system and the beyond through a more ravaging second wave. 

 

时间快进到2021年的夏季，加拿大人通过遏制疫情手段，特别是疫苗普及运动 击败了数次疫情浪潮的冲击后，再次庆祝一个抗击疫情的重大胜利。几千万的加国人士相信科学，争先恐后地参与疫苗接种运动，使疫苗普及率达到全球新高，有80%的可接种疫苗人士接受了第一针疫苗，两针疫苗普及率达到66%。自六月中以来，加国疫情战役取得一个又一个的胜利，每日新增案例和死亡人数不断创下自去年9月份以来的新低。

Fast forward to the 2021 summer, and Canada is celebrating another major win after grueling battles against more Covid waves – using pandemic curbing tools at disposal and vaccines as a significant arsenal.  The widespread vaccination campaign has brought jabs to tens of millions of Canadians as science-believing citizens were eager to offer their arms. With vaccination rates reaching a global high – 80% of eligible Canadians vaccinated with one shot and 66% fully vaccinated, Canada had repeatedly achieved pandemic milestones by mid-June, with daily reported new cases and deaths fetching to the lowest level since Sept. 

但正如去年夏季所经历的，在这种乐观景象的背后隐藏着的是去年夏季的自满情绪，其后果会让我们的疫苗接种和所取得的疫情战役胜利功亏一篑, 并使新一波疫情浪潮的袭击无可避免。尽管加国接种率仍低于获得全体免疫最低水平，但很多人误认为疫苗已经彻底击败了新冠疫情。自认为不用接种疫苗就能躲过新冠风险的人士构成疫苗拒绝人群，使加国疫苗接种率停滞不前以致目前每周接种率仅为1%。同时，某些政客也陷入可导致灾难后果的疫苗万能之误区。

 

The complacency lurks behind this rosy picture, threatening to undermine our vaccination efforts and rendering a new pandemic wave unavoidable – which was Déjà vu all over again. Despite Canada’s vaccination rate remaining below the herd immunity-required level, misperceptions have emerged that the vaccines have already put the pandemic to an end.  Individuals who believe they can ride out of the Covid waves without getting vaccinated make up the vaccine hesitancy group, leaving the country’s vaccination uptake hitting a wall – with only 1% of the population getting a shot per week. Meanwhile, wishful thinking politicians have bought into the false triumph narratives that can lead to disastrous outcomes.

 

尽管阿尔伯塔省的疫苗接种率全国最低，但对普及率颇为满意的阿省政府认为疫情已不是什么值得担心 的问题。急于开放经济并让生活恢复正常的阿省政府采取了一系列令人震惊的，为再次到来的疫情浪潮大开闸门的鲁莽政策，包括终止戴口罩，隔离阳性病患，接触者追踪和无症状检测等全球使用最为广泛的公共卫生措施的规定。

 

Satisfied with the vaccine rates in Alberta– despite the lowest across Canada, the provincial government believes that the pandemic is no longer a concern.  Eager to reopen the economy and bring back normalcy, it resorts to reckless policies that could open the floodgates to more dangerous pandemic waves. The Premier has announced a shocking plan to end the requirements for masking, isolation of positive cases, contact tracing, and asymptomatic testing – the most widely used public health measures globally.

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事实上，加国的疫情战争远未结束。随着各省解除限制禁令，某些疫苗接种率过低的地区居民面临被极易感染的德尔塔病毒袭击的危险，从而导致新增病例和住院率再创新高。许多省的新增病例出现上升趋势，魁省和安省7天平均值已升值入夏以来的新高。加拿大公共卫生部的模型预测，欲防止德尔塔病毒在秋季使医院不堪重负，至少80%的可接种加国人士必须打完两针。

 

However, Canada’s pandemic war is far from over. As provinces start to lift restrictions, lower-than-expected vaccination rates in some parts of the country may render residents vulnerable to the fast-spreading Delta variant, pushing infection numbers and death rates to a new high. Cases in many provinces have been on an upswing, leaving the seven-day average in Quebec and Ontario soaring to the highest level since the beginning of the summer. Modeling from the Public Health Agency of Canada predicates that to avoid Delta variant infections overwhelming hospitals in the fall, at least 80% of eligible Canadians need to be fully vaccinated.

 

去年夏天出现的对短期成功的自满心态让加国人士付出沉重代价，使第二波疫情给加国的抗击疫情之征程 遭受重创。以往的错误是前车之鉴，加国人士必须提高警惕，并将疫苗普及率提至理想水平，以确保加国不会重蹈二波浪潮之覆辙。

 

The smugness over the short-term success last summer cost Canadians dearly, bringing a devastating second wave that resulted in a significant setback in Canada’s pandemic-fighting journey. Mistakes in the past are powerful lessons to avoid future missteps. Amid the growing threat of the more vicious Delta variant, Canada must remain on high alert, pushing the vaccination rate to the desired level to ensure that new Covid flames will not spread like wildfire like last fall.

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