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4/20(月)の英文記事と英単語：覚悟を決める、定着した

10 African Countries Have No Ventilators. That’s Only Part of the Problem.

_{ventilators 人口呼吸器
glaring キラキラ光る、目立つ
steel oneself 覚悟を決める、気持ちを引き締める
entrenched 定着した、確立された、固定された
curfew 外出禁止令
multilateralism 多国間協調主義
untenable 防御［維持］できない}

著者：Ruth Maclean and Simon Marks
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

DAKAR, Senegal — South Sudan, a nation of 11 million, has more vice presidents (five) than ventilators (four). The Central African Republic has three ventilators for its 5 million people. In Liberia, which is similar in size, there are six working machines — and one of them sits behind the gates of the U.S. Embassy.

In all, fewer than 2,000 working ventilators have to serve hundreds of millions of people in public hospitals across 41 African countries, the World Health Organization says, compared with more than 170,000 in the United States.

Ten countries in Africa have none at all.

Glaring disparities like these are just part of the reason people across Africa are steeling themselves for the coronavirus, fearful of outbreaks that could be catastrophic in countries with struggling health systems.

The gaps are so entrenched that many experts are worried about chronic shortages of much more basic supplies needed to slow the spread of the disease and treat the sick on the continent — things like masks, oxygen and, even more fundamentally, soap and water.

Clean running water and soap are in such short supply that only 15% of sub-Saharan Africans had access to basic hand-washing facilities in 2015, according to the United Nations. In Liberia, it is even worse — 97% of homes did not have clean water and soap in 2017, the U.N. says.

“The things that people need are simple things,” said Kalipso Chalkidou, the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, a research group. “Not high-tech things.”

The prospect of a devastating pandemic has led many African governments to take serious measures. Some imposed curfews and travel restrictions when only a few dozen cases in their countries had been confirmed.

And before officials knew of any confirmed cases, airports in Niger and Mali were taking passengers’ temperatures and contact information in case they needed to be traced. Every morning in Senegal, the health minister gives a live update on Facebook.

The crisis has shown that Africa needs to be self-reliant, said Amy Niang, a lecturer in international relations at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

“The brutal withdrawal of the U.S. of its contributions to the WHO, and the management of the crisis more globally, is a stark reminder that Africa’s faith in multilateralism has become untenable,” she said.

CDC Labs Were Contaminated, Delaying Coronavirus Testing, Officials Say

sloppy いい加減な
rendered 〈人などを〉〈～に〉する
Inconclusive 決定的でない
lost ground 支持を失う、人気がなくなる
blunder 大失敗、失態
epidemiologists 伝染病学者
semblance 外見、うわべ

著者：Sheila Kaplan
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Sloppy laboratory practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused contamination that rendered the nation’s first coronavirus tests ineffective, federal officials confirmed Saturday.

Two of the three CDC laboratories in Atlanta that created the coronavirus test kits violated their own manufacturing standards, resulting in the agency sending tests that did not work to nearly all of the 100 state and local public health labs, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Early on, the FDA, which oversees laboratory tests, sent Dr. Timothy Stenzel, chief of in vitro diagnostics and radiological health, to the CDC labs to assess the problem, several officials said. He found an astonishing lack of expertise in commercial manufacturing and learned that nobody was in charge of the entire process, they said.

Problems ranged from researchers entering and exiting the coronavirus laboratories without changing their coats, to test ingredients being assembled in the same room where researchers were working on positive coronavirus samples, officials said. Those practices made the tests sent to public health labs unusable because they were contaminated with the coronavirus, and produced some inconclusive results.

Forced to suspend the launch of a nationwide detection program for the coronavirus for a month, the CDC lost credibility as the nation’s leading public health agency and the country lost ground in ways that continue to haunt grieving families, the sick and the worried well from one state to the next.

To this day, the CDC’s singular failure symbolizes how unprepared the federal government was in the early days to combat a fast-spreading outbreak of a new virus and it also highlights the glaring inability at the onset to establish a systematic testing policy that would have revealed the still unknown rates of infection in many regions of the country. The blunders are posing new problems as some states with few cases agitate to reopen and others remain in virtual lockdown with cases and deaths still climbing.

While President Donald Trump and other members of his administration assert almost daily that the U.S. testing capacity is greater than anywhere else in the world, many public health officials and epidemiologists have lamented the lack of consistent, reliable testing across the country that would reflect the true prevalence of the infection and perhaps enable a return to some semblance of normal life.

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4/21(火)の英文記事と英単語：仕上げる、加速させる、促す

Facebook to Introduce an App for Gaming

caps ～を仕上げる、総仕上げをする、最後を締めくくる
accelerate 加速させる
prod 駆り立てる、促す
entice きをひく、～にひきこむ
literally 文字通り、本当に

著者：Iliana Magra and Ian Austen
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Authorities on the east coast of Canada were searching for a motive Monday after a gunman who appeared to be dressed as a police officer and was driving a vehicle that appeared to be a Nova Scotia police car killed at least 16 people, one of the country’s worst mass killings in recent memory.

Gabriel Wortman, who ran a denture clinic in Nova Scotia, began the massacre in the town of Portapique on Saturday night and did not stop until he died 12 hours later at a gas station in Enfield, 22 miles away, authorities said.

Police have not said how he died. The killings shocked Canada, which is already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, and while there was no immediate motive given, police said one line of investigation would be whether it had played a role.

Heather O’Brien, a nurse, was one of the victims of the shooting, and her daughter, Darcy Dobson, wrote in a Facebook post Sunday that “a monster murdered my mother today.”

A police officer and an elementary schoolteacher were also among the victims of the attack.

In 2014, Wortman, a denturist, was in the news in Canada for a different reason: He was creating a new set of dentures, free of charge, for a cancer survivor who had lost all her teeth.

“My heart went out to her,” he told a Canadian TV network at the time.

Police said that while the killings appeared to be targeted at the start, they became random as the rampage through Nova Scotia progressed.

Another victim was Heidi Stevenson, an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with 23 years experience on the force and mother of two. She died after she responded to the shooting.

Another officer was injured.

Those who knew Wortman, 51, described him as having been “a little different,” but they were nonetheless shocked to hear that he had been identified by authorities as the perpetrator of such a bloody attack.

“Gabriel always had a sadness about him, but I was so shocked to hear that he’d hurt other people,” Candy Palmater, a university friend, told local news outlets Sunday. “I don’t know what his later adult life was like, but I can tell you that at university, people weren’t nice to him.”

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4/22(水)の英文記事と英単語：抵抗する、逆らう

NPR Cuts Executive Pay as Corporate Sponsors’ Payments Fall

purveyor 〔情報などの〕提供者
deficit 〔目標値などに対する〕不足額
discretionary 〔物や金などが〕自分の判断で使える、〔権限などが〕裁量に任された、一任された
withstand ～に抵抗する、逆らう、耐える、持ちこたえる
prudent 将来に備えた、倹約する、〔自分の行動に関して〕用心深い、用意周到な
furlough ～を一時解雇する、自宅待機させる

著者：Marc Tracy
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

NPR, National Public Radio, the purveyor of “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered” and “Planet Money,” is cutting executives’ pay to combat the effects of the economic collapse brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The radio and podcasting giant does not run traditional advertisements, but nearly one-third of its revenue has come from corporate sponsors like Angie’s List, General Motors, State Farm and Trader Joe’s.

In an email to the staff on Friday, John Lansing, who joined the nonprofit as chief executive in September, projected that NPR would fall $12 million to $15 million short of the amount it had expected to receive from sponsors this year. He described the pay cuts as a way for NPR to avoid layoffs.

“We do not have any position eliminations on the table now,” Lansing said in the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times, “and it is our goal to avoid them as much as is reasonably possible.”

Lansing’s own pay will be reduced by 25%, said Isabel Lara, an NPR spokeswoman; other NPR executives will have their salaries cut by 10% to 15%.

In the email, Lansing projected a budget deficit of $30 million to $45 million. NPR was looking to save as much as $25 million in costs through the pay cuts and by keeping a close eye on discretionary spending, he said.

Paul G. Haaga Jr., the chairman of NPR’s board of directors, said he believed NPR was built to withstand tough economic times. “My personal view is, I don’t think we’re going to need to make huge permanent cuts that will undermine the mission,” Haaga said. “We’ve got a lot of reserves, we’ve been prudent in our finances and our investment management. That’s going to benefit us in this difficult time.”

At least 33,000 workers at news organizations in the United States have had their pay cut, been furloughed or lost their jobs since the virus started spreading through the country.

People are consuming more news than usual. Monthly readership of NPR’s website has more than doubled, Lara said, and average weekly streaming of its radio shows has gone up 31% since the crisis began.

Trump Plans to Suspend Immigration to U.S.

suspend 中止する、一時停止する
bar 人が～するのを妨げる、～を禁ずる
seal off 密閉する、閉じ込める
exempt 免除する
weigh 熟慮する

著者：Katie Rogers, Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday evening that he intended to close the United States to people trying to immigrate into the country to live and work, a drastic move that he said would protect American workers from foreign competition once the nation’s economy began to recover from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens,” Trump wrote on Twitter, “I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has said health concerns justified moving swiftly to bar asylum-seekers and unauthorized immigrants from entering the country, alarming immigration advocates who have said that Trump and his advisers are using a global pandemic to further hard-line immigration policies.

But the president’s late-night announcement Monday signals his most wide-ranging attempt yet to seal the country off from the rest of the world. A formal order temporarily barring the provision of new green cards and work visas could come as early as the next few days, according to several people familiar with the plan.

Under such an executive order, the Trump administration would no longer approve any applications from foreigners to live and work in the United States for an undetermined period of time, effectively shutting down the legal immigration system in the same way the president has long advocated closing the borders to illegal immigration. It was not immediately clear what legal basis Trump would claim to justify shutting down most immigration.

Workers who have for years received visas to perform specialized jobs in the United States would also be denied permission to arrive, though some workers in some industries deemed critical could be exempted from the ban, the people familiar with the president’s discussion said.

Several people familiar with the president’s plans said the Department of Homeland Security was separately weighing a large expansion of travel restrictions that already prohibited travelers from Europe and China. The restrictions would significantly shrink the number of people able to come to the United States for short-term visits.

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4/23(木)の英文記事と英単語：譲歩、精一杯努力する

House Readies Historic Changes to Allow Remote Voting During Pandemic

cast (票を)投じる
concession 譲歩
proxy 代理
Capitol 国会議事堂
straining 精一杯努力する 

著者：Nicholas Fandos
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders plan to move this week to change the rules of the House of Representatives to allow lawmakers to cast votes remotely for the first time in its 231-year history, a major concession to the constraints created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader, advised lawmakers on Tuesday that they were likely to vote on Thursday on the new rules, which would temporarily allow members to designate another lawmaker to cast votes for them by proxy if they are unable to travel to the Capitol themselves. He framed it as a common-sense decision to help the 430-member body function more smoothly as the virus alters American life and forces millions of people to shelter in place to slow its spread.

“We want to be able to do the people’s work, notwithstanding the directions to remain at distance,” Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday.

House Republican leaders said they were opposed to the plan, and majority Democrats were working to win them over, but even if they did not, they had more than enough votes to push through the change themselves.

The Republican-controlled Senate, a smaller, clubbier body whose members are even more reluctant to dispatch with tradition, is unlikely to follow suit. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, has firmly rejected the idea. On Tuesday afternoon, after the Senate passed a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill by voice vote — the only way to do business since most senators are absent from the capital — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tried unsuccessfully to force a change in the rules to allow emergency remote voting. McConnell blocked the move.

Under its current rules, the House can pass measures only if no lawmaker objects or if members travel to vote in person, as they are expected to do on Thursday when, in addition to the rules change, the House will consider the $484 billion relief package for small businesses straining under the effects of the pandemic.

FDA Approves First In-Home Test for Coronavirus

nasal swab 鼻腔用綿棒
Insulate 隔離する、遮断する
symptomatic 兆候的
specimen 見本、標本
reimbursement 返済
foot the bill 勘定を受け持つ、支払う
inadvertently 不注意

著者：Katie Thomas
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday said it had granted emergency clearance to the first in-home test for the coronavirus, a nasal swab kit that will be sold by LabCorp.

The agency said that LabCorp had submitted data showing the home test is as safe and accurate as a sample collection at a doctor’s office, hospital or other testing site.

“With this action, there is now a convenient and reliable option for patient sample collection from the comfort and safety of their home,” Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, the FDA commissioner, said in a statement.

Patients will swab their own nose using a testing kit sent by the company and will mail it in an insulated package back to the company. The Pixel by LabCorp COVID-19 test will be available to consumers in most states, with a doctor’s order, the agency said.

LabCorp said that it would first make the tests available to health care workers and emergency workers who may have been exposed to COVID-19 or be symptomatic, and that it would be making the self-collection kits available to consumers “in the coming weeks.” The company also noted that because the tests are done by consumers in their own home, it would cut down on the demand for masks and other protective equipment that is usually needed to collect testing specimens.

The company said the test will cost $119. Consumers will have to pay out of pocket for the test, a company spokesman said, and ask their insurer for reimbursement. The Trump administration has repeatedly said that diagnostic tests for the coronavirus will be covered so that consumers don’t have to foot the bill.

At a moment when governors across the country say their states are facing a shortage of tests, and companies like CVS and Walmart are setting up drive-through testing centers in parking lots, the arrival of kits that let people collect their own nasal specimens at home has the potential to open up testing to a wider audience.

Medical experts said the home-swabbing tests could increase convenience for consumers — and reduce the need for people to go to medical offices where they might inadvertently expose health providers and other patients to the infection.

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4/24(金)の英文記事と英単語：不意を突かれる、支配する

Trump Criticizes Georgia Governor for Decision to Reopen State

assailed ～を言葉［議論］で攻め立てる、激しく非難する
perilous 非常に危険な
caught off guard 不意を突かれる
bolster  ～を支える、～を元気づける
predominate 優位に立つ、支配する
leapfrog ～を飛び越す

著者：Rick Rojas
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

ATLANTA — President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized the decision of a political ally, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, to allow many businesses to reopen this week, saying the move was premature given the number of coronavirus cases in the state.

“I want him to do what he thinks is right, but I disagree with him on what he is doing,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “I think it’s too soon.”

Kemp, a Republican, announced Monday he had cleared the way for what he described as a measured process meant to bolster the economy, as Georgia, like the rest of the nation, grapples with the devastation brought by the pandemic.

Yet the decision was immediately assailed, as public health experts, the mayors of Georgia’s largest cities and others warned that it stood to have perilous consequences. Mayors said the decision had caught them off guard and questioned its wisdom. Business owners who were otherwise eager to revive their livelihoods said they would hold off.

The governor’s plan gives permission to gyms, hair and nail salons, bowling alleys, and tattoo parlors to reopen Friday. Then, Monday, restaurants are allowed to resume dine-in service, and movie theaters and other entertainment venues can reopen.

“I love those people that use all of those things — the spas, the beauty parlors, barbershops, tattoo parlors,” Trump said Wednesday. “I love them. But they can wait a little bit longer, just a little bit — not much, because safety has to predominate.”

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also expressed concern. “I would tell him that he should be careful,” he said about Kemp at the White House briefing Wednesday.

“I know that there is a desire to move ahead quickly,” he continued. “But going ahead and leapfrogging into phases where you should not be, I would advise him as a health official and as a physician not to do that.”

Kemp acknowledged speaking with Trump in a series of Twitter posts after the president’s briefing. And while he praised Trump for his “bold leadership and insight,” he gave no indication he was reconsidering his decision.

“Our next measured step is driven by data and guided by state public health officials,” he wrote.

China Imposes New Limits as Coronavirus Fears Return

spate 大量の
paralyze ～をまひさせる、しびれさせる
lift 〔禁止令などを〕解除する
daunting task 困難な、骨の折れるような作業
dash hope 希望を打ち砕く

著者：Paul Mozur and Steven Lee Myers
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Chinese officials have imposed new limits on movement in some northern parts of the country following a spate of new coronavirus infections, in a sign of how difficult it will be to fully recover from an outbreak that virtually paralyzed the country.

The restrictions imposed over the past week include the city of Harbin, a city of 10 million in northeastern China where a number of new infections have been reported. Other cities in the region have also imposed restrictions, which include preventing outsiders from visiting other neighborhoods and warning residents to stay away from high-risk areas.

The new limits came after authorities reported dozens of new infections, according to Chinese state media, all of which experts said were linked to the return of Chinese nationals from Russia and the United States. Though the numbers officially disclosed have been modest so far, it is not clear that the spread has been entirely contained.

The restrictions do not go as far as the lockdowns that paralyzed Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus outbreak emerged, and then spread to much of the rest of China, bringing the world’s No. 2 economy to a virtual halt. China is gradually reopening its factories and offices and lifting travel restrictions in an effort to get back to normal.

Still, the prospect of more outbreaks illustrate how daunting that task will be, both for China and for other countries.

Outbreaks could still flare up even after the worst seems to be over, dashing hopes that economies can be restarted quickly. Flare-ups could be the new normal, at least until a vaccine or other preventive measures have been developed, leading to a spate of testing and reimposing harsh social-distancing rules. Limits on crossing international borders could remain for a long time.

In China, a new outbreak could be particularly dangerous. In much of the country, life has mostly gone back to normal, public transportation is crowded and restaurants have reopened. Under such conditions, even if most people wear masks, the virus could spread easily.

Officials have stopped short of cutting off Harbin, a city of 10 million where the outbreak has been most severe. The city said earlier this week that neighborhoods should prevent outsiders from entering.

Nearby cities took their own measures. The city of Qiqihar barred outsiders from visiting neighborhoods and warned residents against traveling to at-risk areas, including Harbin.

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