美國疾病控制與預防中心(CDC)上週五發布了一份報告，用以覆盤美國新冠疫情發展，反省在抗擊疫情過程中犯下的錯誤。報告顯示，美國錯失了幾個減緩新冠病毒蔓延的機會，並列出了導致病毒迅速傳播的四個因素。
The U.S. missed several crucial opportunities to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than a million people and killed nearly 70,000, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday.
這份報告的主筆之一，CDC首席副主任 Anne Schuchat在後來接受美聯社採訪時強調說：“我認為，現在回想起來，早點採取行動可能會推遲（疫情擴散）時間，或者減緩疫情擴散的速度。”
The report, penned by CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat, listed four factors that had accelerated the spread of the coronavirus.
"I think in retrospect, taking action earlier could have delayed further amplification [of the U.S. outbreak], or delayed the speed of it," Schuchat stressed later in an interview with the Associated Press.
The four factors are:
1. 旅行限制令有疏漏，大量旅客持續輸入
Travelers carrying the virus keep flooding into the U.S. Though the government banned entrance from China very early, it didn't work for Europeans who caught the virus in home country and then traveled to America. It's until March 11 that the government shut down travels from Europe.
2. 各種大規模聚會導致疫情在早期迅速傳播
Large gatherings like festivals, meetings and other events. There was Mardi Gras celebrations in Louisiana in late February, which attracted more than a million attendees. If the government had told the people to stay at home, the amplification of the COVID-19 spread would have been much weaker.
3. 缺少防護物資以及措施導致病毒在醫院等工作場所傳播
Workplace spread like hospitals and companies. Patients with fever and cough went to hospitals and may have spread the disease to health workers, who often work at multiple health facilities and unknowingly helped the spread of the coronavirus.
4. 早期病毒檢測門檻過高，許多感染者沒有機會接受檢測
Patients without symptoms who cannot be detected without thorough testing. The government issued limitations on who can get the test, which was too strict at first and many people with symptoms were not sure if they had COVID-19 or other diseases.
"During a 3-week period in late February to early March, the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases increased more than 1,000-fold," the report noted.
