翻譯一篇在西雅圖感染新冠肺炎病毒　美國人所寫的個人經歷

【李重德／專欄報導】　I had COVID-19 and here is my story.  I made this post public out of several requests from my friends who asked me to share.  I hope it gives you some good information and peace of mind!

我感染了新冠病毒（武漢肺炎），由於不少我身邊朋友的請托，希望我可以跟大家分享我的情況，所以我決定把我的染病的經驗公開，讓大家可以有更多的了解。

First how easily you can get it. I believe I caught it when attending a small house party at which no one was coughing, sneezing or otherwise displaying any symptoms of illness. It appears that 40% of the attendees of this party ended up sick. The media tells you to wash your hands and avoid anyone with symptoms. I did. There is no way to avoid catching this except avoiding all other humans. 40% of folks were all sick within 3 days of attending the party all with the same/similar symptoms including fever.

首先對於新冠病毒，它比你想像的更容易被感染. 我確信我是在參加一個小型家庭聚會時被感染的。當時參加的客人沒有人咳嗽、打噴嚏，或者顯現出任何生病的症狀。結果呢？約40%參加聚會的人都被感染了！媒體上所說的要勤洗手避免跟有症狀的人接觸，我都照做了. 我覺得沒有任何方式可以避免被感染，除非你完全避免跟人群接觸。40% 被感染者都是在參加聚會後三天之內就發病，他們都有著相同的症狀，包含發燒.

Second, the symptoms appear to be different depending on your constitution and/or age. Most of my friends who got it were in their late 40s to early 50s. I’m in my mid 30s.  For us it was headache, fever (for first 3 days consistently and then on and off after 3 days), severe body aches and joint pain, and severe fatigue. I had a fever that spiked the first night to 103 degrees and eventually came down to 100 and then low grade 99.5.  Some folks had diarrhea.

其次，這些症狀因人而異，因每個人的身體狀況及年齡而有所不同。大部分受感染的朋友年齡層約在40到50歲左右，而我是30幾歲。對我們來說染病的初始症狀是頭痛，發燒（最初三天是持續高燒而後三天是間歇性高燒），身體的劇烈疼痛以及關節疼痛，而且有強烈的四肢無力與倦怠感。在我感染的第一個晚上高燒到103度，隨後下降到100度、99.5度.有些朋友則有腹瀉的症狀。

I felt nauseous one day.  Once the fever is gone some were left with nasal congestion, sore throat. Only a very few of us had a mild itchy cough.  Very few had chest tightness or other respiratory symptoms. Total duration of illness was 10-16 days. 

有一天我覺得想嘔吐。當發燒症狀消退後，鼻塞、喉嚨痛的症狀則持續，僅僅極少數的人感到輕微的喉頭搔癢的乾咳。只有幾個人感到胸口鬱悶感及其他的呼吸道感染徵狀。整個發病期約持續10-16天。

The main issue is that without reporting a cough or trouble breathing many of us were refused testing. I got tested through the Seattle Flu Study.  This is a RESEARCH study here in Seattle and they have been testing volunteers for strains of the flu to study transmission within the community.  A few weeks ago, they started to test a random subset of samples for COVID-19 infection.  They sent my sample to the King County Public Health Department for confirmation; however, I was told that all of the samples that have tested positive in the research study have been confirmed by Public Health.

問題的癥結點在於很多人在沒有咳嗽或呼吸困難的症狀時，都傾向於不需要(或不認為必須)接受武漢肺炎測試。我是透過一個叫做西雅圖流感研究的機構所做的測試。這是一個位於西雅圖的研究機構，它們透過對志願者的檢測，來研究流感病毒類型與社區傳播。幾週前這個機構開始對志願者提供新冠肺炎病毒做隨機抽樣檢測。它們把我的初測到的陽性樣本送到國王郡的公共衛生部門去做感染病毒的確認。隨後我被通知連同我在內所有陽性反應的檢測人，都被確認是感染了新冠肺炎的病毒。

As of Monday March 9th, it has been 13 days since my symptoms started and more than 72 hours since my fever subsided.  The King County Public Health Department is recommending you stay isolated for 7 days after the start of symptoms or 72 hours after your fever subsides.  I have surpassed both deadlines so I am no longer isolating myself however I am avoiding strenuous activity and large crowds and I obviously will not come near you if I see you in public.  I was not hospitalized.  Not every country is hospitalizing everyone with a COVID-19 infection and in my case, and in many other cases, I didn’t even go to the doctor because I was recovering on my own and felt it was just a nasty flu strain different from the ones I have been protected from with this season’s flu vaccine. 

從最初感到症狀到昨天3/9為止，已經過了13天，發燒症狀消退已經過了72小時(3天)。國王郡的公衛部門建議感染者在有感染的症狀出現後，做至少7天的自我的居家隔離。在發燒症狀消退後的72小時內，也應居家隔離，避免接觸公眾。目前我已經度過了這兩個期限，所以我不再自我居家隔離，於此同時，我還是避免過度參與公眾活動與接觸大批人群。我並沒有住院，也不是所有感染新冠肺炎病毒的人都住進郡立醫院。很多跟我一樣的感染者，並沒有去看醫生，就自我痊癒了。對我們來說，這感覺就像一個比以往流行型感冒稍微嚴重一點的新型流感，與我所接種而受到保護的流感疫苗，略為不同。

I also truly believe the lack of testing is leading to folks believing that they just have a cold or something else going out into public and spreading it.  And worse folks with no symptoms are also spreading it as in the case of a person attending a party or social gathering who has no symptoms. 

我確信缺乏對新冠病毒檢測的機制是造成多數人相信他們只是感染風寒或一般正在傳播的季節性流感而已。最糟的情況是，很多人在沒有顯現任何症狀的情況下，仍舊正常參加集會活動或正常社交聚會，而將病毒傳播出去。

I know some folks are thinking that this can’t/won’t impact them. I hope it doesn’t but I believe that the overall lack of early and pervasive testing damaged the public’s ability to avoid the illness here in Seattle. All I know is that Seattle has been severely impacted and although I’m better now I would not wish this very uncomfortable illness on anyone.

我知道很多人認為這款病毒不會傳染給他們。我真心希望真的是如此，但是我仍舊相信整體上缺乏早期的發現與預防性檢測，將會嚴重影響到西雅圖地區公眾對新冠肺炎的抵抗能力。 目前已知的情況是西雅圖地區已經有嚴重的疫情，雖然我已經痊癒，但是我真的不希望這樣的病情發生在其他更多人身上。

One thing that I believe may have saved me from getting worse respiratory symptoms is the fact that I consistently took Sudafed, used Afrin nasal spray (3 sprays in each nostril, 3 days at a time and then 3 days off), and used a Neti pot (with purified water).  This could have kept my sinuses clear and prevented the symptoms from spreading to my lungs.  This is not medical advice: I’m simply sharing what I did and correlating it with the fact that I had no respiratory symptoms.  The two could be entirely unrelated based on the viral strain and viral load that I received. 

我想我做了一件正確的選擇，讓我呼吸系統感染的症狀不致於變得更嚴重，就是我按時服用 Sudafed (一種藥方販售，不需處方的感冒退燒藥)，Afrin 鼻腔噴劑 以及使用清鼻腔咽喉分泌物的Neti Pot 。這些措施保持我的鼻腔咽喉乾淨，從而防堵病毒向下蔓延到我的肺部。我不是在這裡提供醫療建議，只是單純的分享我個人的經驗，因為我並沒有肺部的感染。也許我所做的跟肺部感染並無相關性。而是跟我所感染的病毒特性與病毒感染量有關。

I hope this information helps someone avoid getting sick and/or push to get tested sooner rather than later so you know to isolate before it gets worse or to get medical care if you have respiratory distress. Hand washing doesn’t guarantee you won’t get sick, especially when folks without symptoms are contagious and could be standing right next to you in any given social situation. You more likely than not will not die, but do you want to risk spreading it to a loved one over 60 or someone with an immunity issue? Stay healthy folks!

我希望我所分享的資訊，能幫助大家避免受到感染，或者推動整個公眾檢測系統能更快啟動讓感染者能早期自我隔離，而有呼吸道症候群感染疑慮者，能早期接受治療。洗手並無法完全避免受到感染。尤其那些沒有任何徵兆的帶原傳播者，可能正是你身邊普通社交場合出現的人們。感染病毒後不一定會致死。但是你也不會想不小心傳播病毒給你身邊所關心的年長者，或者有免疫系統功能失調的親友們。大家保重。