【美国电台节目】口罩摘还是不摘？

TRANSCRIPT

The omicron surge is fading fast, but more than 2,200 people are still dying every day. But many states are lifting mask mandates, but federal officials say it is too soon, that case rates are still too high. Well, all this has left a lot of heads, including mine, spinning.

So all these optimistic messages, easing of restrictions, but then, you know, as I nodded to it, at the national level, public health officials are still sounding so cautious. How are we supposed to make sense of it?

One moment it seems like everyone is kind of getting on with their lives and putting the pandemic behind them, the next moment, it feels like omicron and whatever variant may come next means it's still far from safe out there. So, you know, I don't know what to do.

You wake up in the morning and you wonder, maybe we are all right and no one told me, or maybe it is terrible and I should not do my shopping in person. It's very confusing.

It's not surprising that a lot of us don't know what to think or do - wear my mask, stop wearing my mask - and maybe even feeling more anxious than ever because of it.

It's almost reassuring to hear that the officials and experts are....Confused as well. I mean, part of it is what she's getting at - you know, the conflicting advice - wear my mask, don't wear my mask. Just tell me. 

The sense that you're standing on shifting sands does put you in an awkward situation about, what do I do or what don't I do? And what they told me yesterday may be different from what they're telling me today.

A pandemic is unlike other traumatic events like natural disasters. There's no obvious beginning, middle and end. But, you know, we're nowhere near the pandemic becoming endemic yet. And even when it does, and if it does, the virus won't be gone. It'll still be with us, infecting, sickening and killing people. It'll hopefully just be more manageable. But we will still have to navigate day-to-day decisions about risk, and that could easily vary over time and in different, you know, seasons. And, you know, there's always the ongoing threat of new variants. 

I think of the pandemic at this point kind of like an old horror movie where you keep thinking, you know, your nemesis, the evil person chasing you is dead, and they always seem to come back and be right there with you. And that's what's happened with these mutations, is every time it feels like we're kind of moving into normal life again, there's a setback.

Pandemic as horror movie - that feels about right.

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