Dear Mr. President,

親愛的總統先生,

I am an emergency medicine resident physician in one of the biggest hospital systems in New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. In the past several weeks, I have taken care of countless patients with COVID-19 ― some who didn’t seem so sick and some blue in the face and gasping for air 70 times a minute. I have put my face inches from theirs and inserted breathing tubes into their trachea, putting myself and everyone else in the room at exponentially higher risk of contracting this disease.

我是紐約市最大的醫院系統之一的急診內科住院醫師，紐約市是美國第19次脊髓灰質炎大流行的中心。在過去的幾周裡，我已經照顧了無數個COVID-19的病人，有些人看起來並沒有那麼噁心，有些人臉色發青，每分鐘呼吸70次空氣。我把自己的臉放在離他們幾英寸的地方，把呼吸管插入他們的氣管，讓我自己和房間裡的每個人都面臨著成倍增加的感染這種疾病的風險。

As I’ve sat in a room full of coughing patients for 60 hours a week, I have worried about my own safety now and in the coming months as this pandemic gets worse and our completely inadequate supply of personal protective equipment rapidly disappears. There is a major shortage of face masks, along with other supplies, across the country and without them, it can be next to impossible to keep health care workers safe and working to support the increasing number of patients who are arriving at our hospital and clinic doors.

當我每週在一個滿是咳嗽病人的房間裡坐上60個小時的時候，我一直在擔心我自己現在和未來幾個月的安全，因為這場大流行正在惡化，而我們完全不足的個人防護裝備供應迅速消失。在全國範圍內，口罩和其他用品嚴重短缺，如果沒有它們，幾乎不可能保證醫護人員的安全，也不可能幫助越來越多的病人來到我們的醫院和診所。

I have sent some not-so-sick patients home and I have seen some patients die right in front of my eyes. I have spoken on the phone to the sobbing mother of a young man admitted to the intensive care unit, and told her, “No, you are not allowed to enter the hospital to see your critically ill son because we are not letting family members into the hospital during this pandemic.” To say that I have experienced countless heartbreaking moments over the past several weeks would be an understatement.

我把一些病情不那麼嚴重的病人送回家，我親眼看到一些病人就在我眼前死去。我在電話上交談過哭泣的母親,一個年輕的男人住進了重症監護室,告訴她,“不,你是不允許進入醫院看到你病危的兒子,因為我們不讓家人到醫院在這大流行。在過去的幾周裡，我經歷了無數令人心碎的時刻。

In the next couple of days or weeks, we will run out of hospital beds and ventilators. The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients who come to my hospital seems to double every day. If things continue this way, I will soon be forced to make decisions about who deserves a shot at life and who I will allow to die, and that is an unthinkable thing to have to consider, much less do.

在接下來的幾天或幾周，我們會用完醫院的病床和呼吸機。來我醫院的19名危重病人的數量似乎每天都在增加一倍。如果事情繼續這樣發展下去，我很快就會被迫做出決定，決定誰應該有機會活下去，我將允許誰去死。

Tell me ― when there is only one ventilator available, should it go to the young nurse or the elderly woman with multiple comorbidities who has an advanced directive that says “do not intubate/do not resuscitate”? How about the single mother of three? Or the deeply respected emergency medicine attending doctor I worked with last week? How about the middle-aged man with some medical comorbidities and corny jokes who reminds me of my father ― or is my father? Or maybe the person in prison for rape? How about the person of color in jail for marijuana possession? How about a beloved and wealthy celebrity? How about the homeless person with alcohol use disorder who spits on my fellow medical professionals and me when we try to help? How about the homeless person who lives on my street corner and smiles at me every day and says “God bless you”? It’s not so easy choose, is it?

告訴我-當只有一個呼吸機可用時，它應該去年輕護士或老年婦女與多種並存的指示說“不插管/不復蘇”?有三個孩子的單親媽媽怎麼辦?還是上週和我一起工作的那位深受尊敬的急診主治醫生?那個中年男人呢?他有一些醫學上的共病，還有一些老掉牙的笑話，讓我想起了我的父親——或者他就是我的父親?或者是因強姦入獄的人?有色人種因持有大麻而入獄呢?一個受人愛戴且富有的名人呢?那無家可歸的酗酒者呢?當我們試圖幫助他們的時候，他會向我和其他醫務人員吐痰。那無家可歸的人呢?他住在我家的街角，每天對我微笑，說“上帝保佑你”。這不是那麼容易選擇的，不是嗎?

If things continue this way, I will soon be forced to make decisions about who deserves a shot at life and who I will allow to die and that is an unthinkable thing to have to consider, much less do.如果事情繼續這樣發展下去，我很快就會被迫做出決定，決定誰應該有機會活下去，我將讓誰去死。這是一件不可想象的事情，我必須考慮，更不用說去做了。

This past week, between 12-hour shifts working in the emergency department and the newly created COVID respiratory unit, I have done everything I can think of to stop that nightmare scenario from arriving. I have posted on social media begging my friends and family to stay home. I have signed countless petitions and contacted my local government pleading for more personal protective equipment and ventilators. If I learn of other things I can do, I will do those, too.

在過去的一週裡，我在急診科和新成立的COVID呼吸器組之間輪班工作了12個小時，我盡我所能阻止噩夢的到來。我在社交媒體上懇求我的朋友和家人待在家裡。我已經簽署了無數的請願書，聯繫了當地政府，請求得到更多的個人防護設備和通風設備。如果我學到了其他我能做的事情，我也會去做。

My governor, Andrew Cuomo, has tirelessly worked to obtain more personal protective equipment and ventilators. He has begged you to nationalize the effort to acquire medical supplies and you have denied him. He’s begged for citizens to stay home and, while some are listening, many are not and if they don’t, it will be disastrous. But there’s only so much the governor ― or any of us ― can do alone. At this point, there may be only so much we can do together. But we must try.

我的州長安德魯·科莫(Andrew Cuomo)不知疲倦地工作，以獲得更多的個人防護設備和通風設備。他請求你將獲得醫療用品的努力國有化，而你拒絕了他。他懇求市民呆在家裡，雖然有些人在聽，但很多人沒有，如果他們不聽，那將是災難性的。但是，州長——或者我們中的任何一個人——獨自能做的只有這麼多。在這一點上，我們能一起做的可能就只有這麼多了。但我們必須嘗試。

On Tuesday you told Fox News you would “ love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter.” You said you chose Easter because, “you will have packed churches all over our country, I think it would be a beautiful time and it is just about the timeline that I think is right.” The thought of this makes me nauseous. If we do that, exponentially more people will get this disease, our hospital system will not have the capacity to handle it, and health care professionals like me will have to let countless people die while continuing to put our own lives ― and possibly the lives of the people we love ― at risk.

週二，你告訴福克斯新聞(Fox News)，你“希望國家開放，並渴望在復活節前離開”。你說你選擇復活節是因為，“你會擠滿我們國家的教堂，我認為這將是一個美好的時刻，我認為這是正確的時間安排。”一想到這個我就噁心。如果我們這樣做,指數更多的人將這種疾病,我們的醫院系統將沒有能力處理它,和像我這樣的衛生保健專業人員將不得不讓無數人死,同時繼續自己的生活,甚至我們所愛的人的生命——在風險。

When we run out of ventilators ― and we will if we lift the social distancing restrictions that are in place and this pandemic continues to spread as it already has ― I will not be ready to make these decisions about who deserves to live and who deserves to die. When those moments come, I do not know how I will be able to sleep at night. Will you? Now is not the time to let our guards down.

當我們運行的通風,我們將提升社會距離的限制,這大流行性流感繼續蔓延,因為它已經有了,我將不準備做出這些決定的人是活著的人是死了。當那些時刻來臨時，我不知道我將如何能夠在晚上睡覺。你會嗎?現在不是放鬆警惕的時候。

You have the power to be remembered as someone who did the right thing. I beg you to help me and other health care workers save countless lives ― possibly including our own ― so that we as a nation don’t have to suffer the unthinkable devastation looming on the horizon. I beg you to take this pandemic more seriously and I am begging you to do it now.

你有能力被人記住，因為你做了正確的事。我請求你們幫助我和其他衛生保健工作者拯救無數人的生命——可能包括我們自己的生命——這樣，我們作為一個國家就不必遭受即將來臨的難以想象的災難。我請求你們更認真地對待這次大流行，我現在就請求你們這樣做。

Sincerely,

真誠地,

Rachel Sobolev, MD

瑞秋水列夫,醫學博士

Rachel Sobolev is a second year emergency medicine resident in New York City. She feels passionately about being right at the intersection of health care and current events, and providing high quality health care to all types of people regardless of their background.雷切爾·索博列夫(Rachel Sobolev)是紐約市第二名急救醫學住院醫生。她充滿激情地認為自己正處在衛生保健和當前事件的交叉點上，併為所有類型的人提供高質量的衛生保健，而不管他們的背景如何。

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