With COVID easing, the White House has a plan for things to return to normal

With COVID easing, the White House has a plan for things to return to normal

Transcript¹

Recognizing COVID-19 will never be eradicated², the strategic plan by the Biden administration aims to manage future outbreaks with improved surveillance, testing and treatment.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

As the pandemic eases, President Biden has announced a new plan aimed at getting things back to normal. With the recognition that COVID will not be eradicated, the administration's strategy aims to manage any future outbreaks with improved systems of surveillance, testing and treatment. NPR's Allison Aubrey is here to discuss all of this. Allison, the White House released a 96-page strategic plan. What's new about it?

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE³: Well, for starters, it aims to address a problem, a disconnect, really, A. At a time when it's easy to get tested and diagnosed, and there's new antiviral medicines to effectively treat COVID, which have been a real breakthrough, linking testing to treatments has turned out to be a problem. There has not been a system to get these pills to the people who need them most, quickly, when they can be most beneficial and keep people out of the hospital. So the new strategy aims to fix this. Here's President Biden's COVID adviser⁴, Jeff Zients, explaining

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JEFF ZIENTS: To ensure these lifesaving treatments are easily accessible, the president's plan launches a new test-to-treat initiative to provide individuals access to testing and treatment for free, all in one stop.

AUBREY: So the way it works, people will be able to go to a pharmacy⁵, get tested. And if they're positive and at high risk, walk away with an antiviral medication. Zients said Hundreds of one-stop sites will open this month, including at community health clinics and long-term care facilities.

MARTINEZ: All right. So just so I'm clear - a better system to quickly treat people diagnosed with COVID. But what about preventing another wave or another surge of infections? What about that?

AUBREY: Well, the plan focuses a lot on scaling up the surveillance systems that have been developed over the last two years. For instance, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky pointed⁶ to the rapid expansion of wastewater surveillance. Turns out, analyzing⁷ our sewage gives a quick snapshot of the amount of virus in an area. And it can also detect specific variants⁸ of concern. So this really could serve as a kind of early warning system of another outbreak.

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ROCHELLE WALENSKY: Wastewater can detect an increase in cases four to six days before we might see these cases show up through a rise in positive tests. When it was first released publicly two weeks ago, data from the National Wastewater Surveillance System included 400 testing sites across the country, representing over 50 million people.

AUBREY: And she says they are adding more sites every day, which is important because as cases have declined so much, which is great, people won't be inclined to do a COVID test every time someone in their family has a runny nose or a sniffle. So with less testing, surveilling wastewater is a good way to keep tabs on the virus. It's a form of passive surveillance.

MARTINEZ: Yep. Another key part of the strategic plan has to do with vaccines⁹. What's that vision?

AUBREY: You know, the vision is that the U.S. continues to help vaccinate¹⁰ people around the globe, and also to continue developing new types of vaccines, ones that provide broader or longer lasting¹¹ immunity¹² - or even variant-specific vaccines. At a White House briefing to unveil this yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the goal is this...

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ANTHONY FAUCI: Updated vaccines can be developed, approved and manufactured in approximately 100 days.

AUBREY: And the administration will be asking Congress for more money, which they say is needed to parlay these strategic plans into action.

MARTINEZ: That's NPR's Allison Aubrey. Allison, thanks.

AUBREY: Thank you, A.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

8 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

9 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

10 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

11 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

12 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。