在感染率居高不下，醫療系統瀕臨崩潰的現在，起初想和新冠“共存”的英國人動搖了？_風聞

英國醫學期刊在當地時間7月18日的時候，在其官網上發佈了一篇文章，吐槽國家的醫療系統正逐漸被新冠疫情摧毀，而政府應該向公眾承認，新冠疫情的危害還在不停的持續。

原文章的標題和副標題，大體意思是國家衞生服務並不是與病毒共存，而是正在被病毒摧毀

該文章中先是提到，很多媒體的頭條目前聚焦於最近由於高温而引發的各種事故，以及一些讓人匪夷所思的應對失誤，你能想象救護車居然在醫院外開始排起了長隊嗎？

Today may be the most difficult day the NHS has ever experienced. The headlines will focus on the pressures created by the heatwave and that most visible sign of healthcare failure—ambulances queuing outside hospitals

文章原文片段，大致意思是最近這段日子對於NHS（National health service，英國國家醫療服務體系）是十分艱難，一方面媒體關注於高温帶來的影響，一方面則關注一個顯而易見的醫療事故——在醫院外排長隊的救護車

而文章中的作者則是將上述失誤的原因歸咎於政府在2020年到2021年的這段時間，錯誤的估計了新冠疫情帶來的影響，導致沒有為NHS投入更多的資金，人力，以及為了應對新冠疫情而進行的醫療系統的改革。

This brutal situation is the culmination of many factors, which include but are not limited to prolonged periods of underfunding in the past decade, lack of an adequate workforce plan, and a cowardly and shortsighted failure to undertake social care reform.

原文相關段落，總之就是抱怨醫療拉跨的原因是政府沒給錢，沒給人，也沒進行專門的政策改革

至於為什麼出現這樣的判斷，一方面是因為他們認為新冠疫情在一年之中可能只會在冬季12月出現大規模的爆發“浪潮”。

但現如今的情況是，目前英國已經經歷了兩次“浪潮”，並且可能會在7月到8月中迎來峯值，但也説不定9月份之後還會迎來新的變種。

目前英國醫院的新冠陽性病人的入院平均數已經到了9000，這個數字在2021年的時候不高於6000，2020年的時候則是不高於7000。

Weekly hospital admissions to English hospitals, for those who test positive for covid-19, have averaged just over 9000 in the first six and half months of the year. In 2021 the number was just under 6000, with most admissions concentrated in the first two months of the year. The average in 2020 was just under 7000.

雖然奧密克戎變種的患者目前只有不到40%正在接受治療，但要治療以及診斷是否感染並不是一件簡單的事情，更不用提還需要花費大量的時間和經歷去將感染者進行隔離。

高強度的工作，以及很高的感染和發病率，以及不斷被確診陽性的員工，這一切都使得本就已經緊張的勞動力進一步的被掏空。

The omicron variant is less severe, and just under 40% of hospital patients are being treated “primarily” for the disease.But a covid-19 diagnosis is a complicating factor for many conditions, worsening outcomes and lengthening recovery times. The need to keep people with covid-19, uninfected people, and contacts apart means an increase in effort. Higher rates of covid-19 in hospitals and the community also result in more staff sickness, further hollowing out an already overstretched and exhausted workforce.

原文相關片段，大體意思和上面説的差不多

不過根據文章作者的説法，面對已經逐漸崩潰的NHS，英國政府採取的方式卻是當作沒看見。

How is the government responding to this crisis? Largely by pretending it is not happening or implying it is all under control. In the House of Lords last week government health spokesperson Lord Kammal repeated the spurious line: “We managed to break the link between infections and hospitalisations and hospitalisations and death.”

相關段落，他還吐槽説一個叫做卡馬爾的勳爵重複説着“我們已經打破了感染與住院，住院和死亡逐漸的聯繫”（大概就是説一切都在掌控之中）的謊話。

並且在最近首相選拔中，大部分的候選人比起直接提出對於已經快要頂不住的NHS進行醫療改革，似乎對於引入軍隊來重組NHS，或者是砍掉“不可支出”的醫療支出更有興趣。對於NHS的各種急迫的需求一概不管不問。

The Conservative Party leadership contest—which will deliver the UK’s next prime minister—is shedding little light on the crisis in the NHS and the government’s failing covid policy. The candidates seem more keen to talk about bringing in the army to shake up the NHS or criticise “unsustainable” spending on healthcare than tackle the immediate and pressing needs of the service. As the NHS is in crisis, health is barely mentioned in leadership debates.

原文段落，結尾還吐槽説之前的電話辯論，醫療甚至都沒怎麼被提及過

而除去這篇BMJ對於醫療系統已經頂不住的文章以外，英國的衞報在當地時間7月19日，也發佈了一篇關於與新冠共存帶來的影響的文章。

原文標題《與新冠共存如何讓英國的感染率居高不下》，副標題是專家稱政府提倡的和新冠共存的口號正在起到反效果

在這篇文章中，作者提到，由於英國政府在之前的新冠阿爾法變體浪潮中採取共存政策，在一定時間內，民眾出行的次數也變得多了起來。

A similar pattern played out on public transport, at least in London. Tube and bus travel plummeted in the first lockdown, then increased steadily until the Alpha wave struck in the winter. Through 2021, buses and tubes gradually filled up again, and more steeply after all restrictions were lifted, to reach 75% of pre-pandemic levels last autumn.

原文相關段落，大體意思是説早期倫敦市民外出的意願短時間內下降了一些，但是在冬季阿爾法浪潮來襲之後，市民們外出的醫院變多了，在2021年秋季，當所有限制被移除之後，出行率達到了疫情出現前的75%

然而一切卻在奧密克戎來襲的浪潮後發生了變化，如同BMJ之前提到的，奧密克戎造成的實際危害不斷地上升，但由於政府不停在宣傳與病毒共存，導致很多民眾即使是在如此危險的情況下，依然選擇不採取必要的防護措施進行外出。

英國聖安德魯斯大學社會心理學教授斯蒂芬賴歇爾就提到，由於政府提倡的新冠共存的計劃中，特別強調了民眾自身的安全是個人責任而不是社會責任，這導致很多先前認為，為了社區安全而必須採取防護措施的英國民眾開始搗起了漿糊。

現在很多人都不怎麼去做核酸檢測，自我隔離幾乎不存在，這就導致傳播的風險變得特別的高，感染率也變得居高不下。

Throughout the pandemic, many people adhered to restrictions for the good of the community rather than themselves, but the shift from social responsibility to personal responsibility undermined that, Reicher said. Now, with minimal testing and no requirement to self-isolate, people have not been able to take personal responsibility. The TUC found nearly one in 10 workers with Covid symptoms have been put under pressure to go into their workplace, with similar pressure on children going to school, Reicher said. The result is stubbornly high infection rates even between successive waves.

而倫敦衞生與熱帶學院助理教授克里斯托弗·賈維斯也認為，此前的共存政策根本就沒有讓人們的生活回到疫情爆發前的水平，很多人每週都會因為各種各樣的原因選擇在家辦公，並且這種情況可能還會持續很長一段時間。

“It’s still pretty apparent we’re not back to pre-pandemic levels with everyone back in the office five days a week, but it really varies by workplace and industry,” said Christopher Jarvis, assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “Fundamentally, the way people work has changed, and that could last a considerable amount of time.”