COVID-19 痛苦地凸显了国家和全球层面大流行防备的薄弱环节。但一项新研究指出，即使在具有大流行潜力的疫情爆发的最初、局部步骤中，我们也令人担忧地准备不足。
COVID-19 made the weaknesses in our pandemic preparedness at national and global levels painfully clear. But a new study highlights that even at the first, local steps of an outbreak with pandemic-potential, we are worryingly underprepared.
纽约卫生官员设立了一项区域性测试，考察医疗机构识别和应对可能构成大流行级威胁的不明感染患者的能力。但结果不容乐观。总体而言，反应迟缓，个人防护装备的规范使用情况参差不齐，只有 60% 的机构通过了测试的基本要求——整体不合格。"这些演练凸显了医护人员和医疗机构工作人员需要接受培训，以实现对潜在传染性发热患者的更早识别、佩戴口罩和隔离，" 官员们在发表于《发病率和死亡率周报》的研究中写道。
Health officials in New York set up a regional test of healthcare facilities to identify and respond to a patient with a mystery infection that could pose a pandemic-level threat. But things didn't go well. Overall, responses were slow, appropriate use of personal protective equipment was spotty, and only 60 percent of facilities passed the basics of the test—an overall failing grade. "These drills identified needs for health care workers and health care facility staff member training to achieve earlier identification, masking, and isolation of potentially infectious febrile patients," the officials wrote in the study, which was published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.