Heat Dome

This is the future we all face. The city of Portland was baking last June and Bureau of Emergency Management Director Jonna Papaefthimiou was in crisis mode.   这是我们每个人都必须面对的未来。去年六月，波特兰市经历了高温的炙烤，当地应急管理局局长Jonna Papaefthimiou 处于危机状态。 图片 Sweltering in temperatures 40 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal in a city where air conditioning isn’t common, Papaefthimiou tried every possible last-ditch effort to help keep residents cool and healthy. 在这个空调并不普及的城市，当地气温比正常水平高出了40华氏度，闷热难耐，Papaefthimiou 竭尽全力帮助居民保持凉爽和健康。 图片 There were the jury-rigged misting stations at public parks, stadium shelters kept open through the night and the hundreds of calls Papaefthimiou and her staff made to subsidized housing managers begging them to check on elderly residents.    为此，当地在公园紧急设置了雾化站，并通宵开放体育馆应急避难所。Papaefthimiou和同事联系了数百位补贴住房管理人员，恳请他们关照老年居民。 THIS IS WHAT CLIMATE CHANGE DOES Nearly one year after that heat dome, emergency managers, doctors and even transit systems across the Pacific Northwest say they are taking lessons learned from the unprecedented event to prepare for this summer as climate change increases the likelihood of similar heat domes occurring again.  在那次热穹顶事件过去近一年后，应急管理人员和医生，甚至美国太平洋西北地区的交通系统负责人都表示，气候变化增加了热穹顶现象发生的几率，他们正从这场史无前例的高温天气中汲取教训，为迎接今年夏季的高温做准备。 ►►► DATA FROM CDC  An analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that during May and June of 2021, 3,504 people went to emergency rooms for heat-related illnesses in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Region 10 areas, which encompasses the Pacific Northwest. 美国疾病控制与预防中心的一项调查分析显示，2021年5、6两个月内，美国卫生与公共服务部下辖的10号地区（包括美国西北太平洋地区）有3504人因为与高温有关的疾病而紧急就医。 On June 28, when temperatures peaked at 116 F—42 degrees higher than the average daily maximum temperature for the region—there were some 2,779 emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses. On the same date one year earlier, there were just nine emergency visits for heat.  6月28号，该地气温达到极值116华氏度——比当地日均最高气温高出了42华氏度——当天约有2779人因为与高温有关的疾病而就医。而在去年的同一天，仅有9人出于同样的原因而就医。 Ultimately, more than 160 people died from extreme heat in Oregon and Washington, many of them because they remained in spaces without air conditioning or other means of  cooling down.    在俄勒冈州和华盛顿州，极端高温最终导致160多人死亡。其中大部分人因为处在没有空调或其他降温手段的空间内而不幸遇难。 图片 DAMAGE CONTROL  Dr. Alex St. John, an emergency physician at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, worked just one shift during the heat dome but says the emergency room was as intense as it had been during the first days of the coronavirus pandemic. 西雅图港景医疗中心的急救内科医生 Alex St. John 博士在热穹顶现象期间仅采取一班倒的工作模式，但他表示急诊室的繁忙程度与新冠肺炎最初几天爆发时的情景别无二致。 “It just felt like there were more patients than we could possibly stay on top of, and we were in a damage-control mode where we were just trying to make sure that all of the sickest people were getting the major treatments they need,” he said. In the nine years he has been practicing in Seattle, he said he only had to treat a handful of heat-stressed patients and never anyone in such dire straits. 他说：“感觉病人数量已经超出了我们的承受范围，在损害控制模式下，我们只能尽力保证所有最危重的病人能得到必要的关键医疗服务。”他还表示，在西雅图执业的九年间，只收治过少数热应激患者，并且从未遇见过病情像今年这样危重的病人。 图片 One of those patients was an elderly woman who came into the emergency room with a core body temperature of 104 degrees — dangerously hot and close to suffering from fatal heat stroke. To rapidly cool her down, St. John zipped her up to her chest in a black body bag usually meant for corpses and filled it with ice.    他曾收治了一名前往急诊室就医的老年女性患者。当时，她的核心体温已经达到了极其危险的104华氏度，几乎快要患上致命性中暑。为了快速降低患者的体温，St. John 在黑色的裹尸袋中装满冰块，让她躺在袋中并把袋子拉链拉到了她胸口的位置。    St. John did his medical training in Arizona, where he would treat heat illness patients by putting cold, damp cloths on their skin. Though unconventional, the trick saved the woman’s life.     在亚利桑那州开展医疗培训期间，St. John 博士在治疗中暑病人时会给他们敷上湿冷的布。尽管这种方法不符合常规，但它确实挽救了那位妇女的性命。    St. John said he wouldn’t hesitate to reach for a body bag to treat heat stroke in the future, but he worries that higher temperatures could one day become so bad and prolonged they would strain the capacity of the hospital cafeteria’s ice machine.    St. John 博士表示，未来遇到中暑的患者，他会毫不犹豫地使用塞满冰块的裹尸布来帮助他们降温。但他担心如果有一天更高的气温出现，其严峻程度、持续时间之长可能会让医院咖啡厅的制冰机不堪重负。 重点词汇 heat dome 热穹顶 air conditioning 空调系统 last-ditch effeort 竭尽全力 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention （CDC）美国疾病预防控制中心 emergency room 急诊室 damage-control mode 损害控制模式