美國(guó)疾控中心日前修改了疫情防控指導(dǎo)意見中關(guān)于密切接觸者的定義，將時(shí)間較短但反復(fù)接觸的情況也包括在內(nèi)。新的定義明確，只要在24小時(shí)內(nèi)與新冠病毒感染者接觸時(shí)間累計(jì)達(dá)15分鐘，就會(huì)被認(rèn)定為密切接觸者。

Federal health officials issued new guidance on Wednesday that greatly expands the pool of people considered at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus by changing the definition of who is a “close contact” of an infected individual.

美國(guó)聯(lián)邦衛(wèi)生官員本周三（10月21日）發(fā)布了新指導(dǎo)意見，該意見更改了新冠病毒感染者的“密切接觸者”的定義，從而大大擴(kuò)展了有感染新冠病毒風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的人群范圍。

The change by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is likely to have its biggest impact in schools, workplaces and other group settings where people are in contact with others for long periods of time. It also underscores the importance of mask-wearing to prevent spread of the virus.

美國(guó)疾病控制與預(yù)防中心的這一改動(dòng)可能對(duì)學(xué)校、辦公場(chǎng)所和其他人與人長(zhǎng)時(shí)間接觸的聚集環(huán)境影響最大。該指導(dǎo)意見還強(qiáng)調(diào)了佩戴口罩以防止病毒傳播的重要性。

The CDC had previously defined a “close contact” as someone who spent at least 15 consecutive minutes within six feet of a confirmed coronavirus case. The updated guidance, which health departments rely on to conduct contact tracing, now defines a close contact as someone who was within six feet of an infected individual for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, according to a CDC statement Wednesday.

美國(guó)疾控中心先前將“密切接觸者”定義為在新冠肺炎確診患者6英尺（1.8米）范圍內(nèi)持續(xù)停留至少15分鐘的人。根據(jù)疾控中心周三發(fā)布的聲明，新版指導(dǎo)意見現(xiàn)在將密切接觸者定義為24小時(shí)內(nèi)在感染者6英尺范圍內(nèi)停留時(shí)間總計(jì)達(dá)15分鐘以上的人。該指導(dǎo)意見是美國(guó)衛(wèi)生部門追蹤密切接觸者的依據(jù)。

The update comes as the United States is “unfortunately seeing a distressing trend, with cases increasing in nearly 75 percent of the country,” Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious diseases, said Wednesday at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, in the first news conference administration officials permitted in more than eight weeks. People may be tired of the advice, Butler said, but mask-wearing is more important than ever this fall and winter as Americans head indoors, where transmission risks are greater.

美國(guó)疾控中心負(fù)責(zé)傳染病的副主任杰伊·巴特勒本周三在疾控中心位于亞特蘭大的總部召開的新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上稱，當(dāng)前美國(guó)“不幸地呈現(xiàn)出一種令人不安的趨勢(shì)，全國(guó)近75%的地區(qū)新冠確診病例都在增加”。這是八周多以來政府官員許可召開的第一個(gè)新聞發(fā)布會(huì)。巴特勒說，人們也許聽煩了這一建議，但是今年秋冬隨著美國(guó)人待在室內(nèi)時(shí)間變長(zhǎng)，病毒傳播風(fēng)險(xiǎn)變大，佩戴口罩比以往都更重要。

The guidance about transmission of the coronavirus, which causes covid-19, had been discussed by CDC scientists for several weeks, according to a CDC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Then came unsettling new evidence in a report published Wednesday. CDC and Vermont health officials discovered the virus was contracted by a 20-year-old prison employee who in an eight-hour shift had 22 interactions — for a total of over 17 minutes — with individuals who later tested positive for the virus.

疾控中心的一名官員匿名透露，關(guān)于新冠病毒傳播的最新指導(dǎo)意見，疾控中心的科學(xué)家已經(jīng)討論了好幾周。但是周三發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告提出了讓人不安的新證據(jù)。疾控中心和佛蒙特州的衛(wèi)生官員發(fā)現(xiàn)，一名20歲的監(jiān)獄工作人員感染了新冠病毒，他在8個(gè)小時(shí)的值班過程中有過22次人員接觸，總時(shí)長(zhǎng)超過17分鐘，和他接觸過的人后來新冠病毒檢測(cè)為陽性。

"This article adds to the scientific knowledge of the risk to contacts of those with covid-19 and highlights again the importance of wearing face masks to prevent transmission,” the CDC said.

疾控中心稱：“這份報(bào)告增進(jìn)了人們對(duì)于新冠病毒接觸者風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的科學(xué)認(rèn)識(shí)，再次凸顯了佩戴口罩對(duì)于防止病毒傳播的重要性?！?/p>

As many as half of all people who have the virus don’t show symptoms, “so it’s critical to wear a mask because you could be carrying the virus and not know it,” the CDC said. “While a mask provides some limited protection to the wearer, each additional person who wears a mask increases the individual protection for everyone. When more people wear masks, more people are protected.”

疾控中心表示，多達(dá)一半的新冠病毒感染者沒有癥狀，“因此佩戴口罩很關(guān)鍵，因?yàn)槟憧赡軘y帶病毒而不自知。盡管口罩對(duì)佩戴者的保護(hù)作用有限，但是每多一個(gè)人佩戴口罩，就對(duì)每個(gè)人多一份保護(hù)。如果更多人佩戴口罩，就有更多人受到保護(hù)。”

Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, called the updated guidance an important change.

約翰斯·霍普金斯大學(xué)健康安全中心的流行病學(xué)家凱特琳·里弗斯稱，指導(dǎo)意見的這一更新是重要改變。

"It’s easy to accumulate 15 minutes in small increments when you spend all day together — a few minutes at the water cooler, a few minutes in the elevator, and so on,” Rivers said. “I expect this will result in many more people being identified as close contacts.”

里弗斯說：“當(dāng)你一整天都和其他人在一起時(shí)，碎片化的接觸時(shí)間很容易就能累積到15分鐘，比如飲水機(jī)邊的幾分鐘，電梯里的幾分鐘，等等。我認(rèn)為這將導(dǎo)致更多人被認(rèn)定為密切接觸者。”

She added: “This change underscores the importance of vigilant social distancing — even multiple brief interactions can pose a risk.”

她補(bǔ)充道：“這一改變強(qiáng)調(diào)了提高社交隔離警惕的重要性，因?yàn)榧词故菐状味虝旱幕?dòng)也會(huì)構(gòu)成風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”

英文來源：華盛頓郵報(bào)

翻譯&編輯：丹妮