Younger adults are biggest spreaders of Covid-19 - Study

Friday, February 5, 2021 - 01:00

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A new study suggests that the biggest spreaders of coronavirus are adults aged 20 to 49, but that doesn’t mean they should be pushed to the head of the vaccine line, experts say.

一项新的研究显示新冠疫情的最大传播者是20-49岁的成年人。但专家表示这并不意味着这些人应该被放在最前面接受疫苗注射。

A research team at Imperial College in London used cell phone location data covering more than 10 million people and publicly available information on the spread of the virus to calculate which age groups were most responsible for the spread of the virus across most of the US.

伦敦帝国理工学院(Imperial College in London)的一个研究小组利用覆盖1000多万人的手机定位数据和病毒传播的公开信息，计算出哪个年龄段的人对美国大部分地区的病毒传播负有最大责任。

Children accounted for very little spread, the researchers said, as did older adults. This could mean that opening schools may not contribute to spread if transmission is controlled among younger adults, they said.

研究者表示数据显示儿童几乎不影响病毒传播，老年人也一样。如果传播者主要是成年人的话，这意味着学校开放对疫情传播可能没有什么影响，

短语：account for     contribute to

“This study provides evidence that the resurgent COVID-19 epidemics in the US in 2020 have been driven by adults aged 20-49, and in particular adults aged 35-49, before and after school reopening,” the team wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

研究团队在《科学》杂志发文写到：研究结果及附带证据表明新冠疫情在美国2020年的重新爆发是由20-49岁的成人，尤其是35-49岁年龄段的成人在学校重新开学的前后时段主导传播。

resurgent   adj./rɪˈsɜːdʒənt/ ( formal )复兴的；恢复生机活力的；再度流行的

“Unlike pandemic flu, these adults accounted after school reopening in October, 2020 for an estimated 72.2% of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the US locations considered, whereas less than 5% originated from children aged 0-9 and less than 10% from teens aged 10-19.”

“与大流行性流感不同的是，2020年10月学校重新开学后，这些成年人估计占美国所考虑地区SARS-CoV-2感染源的72.2%，而0-9岁儿童不到5%，10-19岁青少年不到10%。”

And it might be the adults aged 35 to 49 who are the biggest factor in driving the pandemic, as opposed to younger adults, Oliver Ratmann of the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team and colleagues concluded.

伦敦帝国理工COVID-19应对小组Oliver Ratmann 及其同事得出结论，与预想的年轻人是主要原因相反，35-49岁的成年人是驱动新冠大流行的主要推手。

“Prior to the implementation of COVID-19 interventions, contacts concentrated among individuals of similar age, were highest among school-aged children and teens, and also common between children/teens and their parents, and middle-aged adults and the elderly. Since the beginning of the pandemic, these contact patterns have changed substantially,” the team wrote.

研究团队写到：在实施COVID-19干预措施之前，接触集中在年龄相近的个体中，学龄儿童和青少年接触最多，儿童/青少年及其父母、中年人和老年人接触也很常见。自新冠大流行开始以来，这些接触模式发生了重大变化。

substantially  adv.   /səbˈstænʃəli/  

1.非常；大大地•The costs have increased substantially. 成本大大提高了。

2.基本上；大体上；总的来说•What she says is substantially true. 她的话大体符合事实。 

“This study indicates that in locations where novel highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 lineages have not yet established, additional interventions among adults aged 20-49, such as mass vaccination with transmission-blocking vaccines, could bring resurgent COVID-19 epidemics under control and avert deaths,” they added.

他们补充说:“这项研究表明，在尚未建立新的高度传染性SARS-CoV-2谱系的地区，对20-49岁成年人采取额外的干预措施，如大规模接种传播阻断疫苗，可控制COVID-19疫情的反复爆发，避免死亡。”

novel 做形容词，有新颖的、异常的、独特的意思•a novel feature 新特征

avert  v.   /əˈvɜːt/  

1.防止，避免（危险、坏事）•A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。

2.~ your eyes, gaze, face (from sth) 转移目光；背过脸•She averted her eyes from the terrible scene in front of her. 她背过脸，不去看面前可怕的场面。

They estimated that people 35 to 49 accounted for 41% of the new transmissions through mid-August, and adults 20 to 34 were responsible for another 35%. Children and teens accounted for just 6% of spread. People 50 to 64 made up 15% of transmission.

研究团队估计35-49岁年龄段的成年人对新冠八月中旬的传播的责任占41%，20-34岁占35%。儿童及亲少年只占传染源的6%，50-64岁的贡献15%。

“Over time, the share of age groups among reported deaths has been remarkably constant, suggesting that young adults are unlikely to have been the primary source of resurgent epidemics since summer 2020, and that instead changes in mobility and behavior among the broader group of adults aged 20-49 underlie resurgent COVID-19 in the US in 2020,” the team wrote.

该研究小组写道”随着时间的推移,年龄的份额在死亡报告表现出明显的恒定,表明年轻人不太可能是自2020年夏季以来,疫情重新爆发的主要来源,而是更宽泛的年龄段20-49岁人群的流动性和行为构成2020年COVID-19在美国复发。”

the primary source：第一手资料；（通过研究或观察等获得的）直接材料

underlie ：v.   /ˌʌndəˈlaɪ/ [ VN ] 构成…的基础；作为…的原因• These ideas underlie much of his work. 他的作品大部分都是以这些主题思想为基础。

Efforts to control virus spread

The researchers said that efforts to control the spread of coronavirus -- including vaccination -- should probably focus on those aged 20 to 49.

But there is not yet enough vaccine to immunize everyone, and the federal government is working with state and local governments to try to vaccinate people in an orderly, fair and logical way.

研究者认为控制疫情扩散的精力，包括疫苗注射措施，应该集中在20-49岁人群。但是目前没有足够的疫苗，而现在联邦政府与州、地方政府联合起来努力为人民群众有秩序、公平和合理的提供疫苗注射服务。

Current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance put frontline healthcare workers and frail long term care facility residents at the front of the vaccine line. The White House under both presidents Trump and Biden has suggested that states open up vaccination to anyone over 65, as this age group is considered most vulnerable to death and severe disease from Covid-19.

目前美国疾病控制和预防中心指南将一线医疗工作者和体弱的长期护理机构居民置于疫苗接种一线。特朗普总统和拜登总统领导下的白宫都建议各州向任何超过65岁的人开放疫苗接种，因为这个年龄群体被认为是最容易感染Covid-19而死亡和引发严重疾病的群体。

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that while older people are more at risk for severe disease, experts have suspected for some time that younger people are driving the spread of the virus in the US. (CNN)

美国国家过敏和传染病研究所主任安东尼·福奇博士周二表示，虽然老年人更容易患严重疾病，但专家们一段时间以来一直怀疑，年轻人正在推动病毒在美国的传播。（CNN）

http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/02/05/world/240775/younger-adults-are-biggest-spreaders-covid-19-study