【話題精選】為何在Covid-19期間，CDC被人民認為溝通能力不足？
資料出處：2022-10-01 NBC新聞 – Erika Edwards記者
原文：
Frustrations still run high at the CDC, but staffers remain hopeful that the agency will regain its credibility with the public.
In the early days of Covid, staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sought to give Americans guidance about maintaining some semblance of normalcy during a once-in-a-century pandemic that had upended daily life.
One recommendation? Play basketball with your friends — online.
There was one big problem: The nation’s top public health professionals failed to consult their very colleagues who’d be responsible for communicating this advice to the public.
“We have to have a seat at the table sooner, so we can raise our hand and say, ‘Hey guys, I’m sorry, but playing basketball virtually with your friends is probably not a great recommendation,’” a CDC staffer told NBC News before adding: “That’s pretty stupid.”
Another staffer echoed the frustration. “There were a number of people inside the agency that were sometimes perplexed at whether what we were recommending was really practical.”
Communication failures like that, along with much more consequential errors, would continue throughout the pandemic, deeply tarnishing the agency — long considered the gold standard of public health institutions. The blunders have left career scientists and other longtime employees worried that the wounds can’t be healed.
All culminated in what would become a series of unsettlingly defining moments for CDC employees who say the agency was unable to move fast enough for the public with science solid enough to meet their own expectations.
This account is based on interviews with seven CDC employees who spoke to NBC News about their experiences during the pandemic on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters freely. All but one have been with the agency for at least 14 years, and three are nearing or have exceeded their third decade of service.
While some employees say they are optimistic that the agency can improve its public health responses, blunders during the Covid response still haunt those who have dedicated their lives to public health.
“When people ask, ‘where do you work?’ I used to say that ‘I work at CDC’ with pride,” a staffer said. “Now I just tell people that I work in public health and not exactly where I work, because it’s just going to become a discussion of our failures.”
“People’s lives were changing based on our decisions,” said a senior scientist within the agency. “The fear, the anxiety, the stress …” the person said, trailing off. “If only we could have stopped time.”
“There are going to be headlines that praise you and headlines that slam you,” the CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky told NBC News. “It was going to be hard for the agency however it shook out. I can tell you numerous times where I’ve had these big decisions… many nights I’ve lost sleep.”
珂欣粗暴翻譯：
面對Covid-19，疾病預防控制中心(CDC)的挫敗感仍然很高，但工作人員仍然希望該機構能夠重新獲得公眾的信任。
在新冠肺炎(Covid)剛爆發的時候，疾病控制和預防中心的工作人員試圖為美國民眾提供指導，讓他們在百年一遇、顛覆日常生活的大流行中，能保持一些表面上的正常狀態，例如：他們推薦和你的朋友一起線上打籃球！
但問題是：這些國家頂級公共衛生專業人員在提供指導時，並沒有諮詢負責向公眾傳達建議的同事
「我們必須盡快在桌邊坐下，這樣我們才能舉手說：『嘿，我很抱歉，但與你的朋友打線上籃球可能不是一個很好的建議』」一名 CDC 工作人員告訴NBC新聞，並補充說「這真的太愚蠢了」
「有時機構內部也有很多人對我們推薦的內容感到困惑」另一位員工也表達了這種沮喪的心情
像這樣對大眾的溝通失敗，以及更多的預測性的錯誤，在整個大流行期間都持續存在，並且嚴重損害了CDC長期以來被認為是公共衛生機構的黃金標準，這些失誤讓職業科學家和其他長期僱員擔心，並最終導致 CDC 員工經歷了一系列令人不安的決定性時刻，他們認為，CDC無法足夠快速的為公眾提供足夠可靠的科學依據，來滿足人民「對正常生活的期望」
因為我們對 7 名 CDC 員工進行了採訪，他們在不透露姓名的情況下向 NBC 新聞講述了他們在大流行期間的經歷，受採訪的大部分人都已在該機構工作了至少 14 年，其中三名接近或已超過其服務的第三十年，儘管有一些員工表示，他們對該機構可以改善其公共衛生應對措施感到樂觀，但在應對新冠肺炎疫情的期間，指導性的失誤仍然影響著那些為公共衛生獻身的人
「以前當人們問：『你在哪里工作？』時，我常常自豪地說『我在 CDC 工作』，現在我只是告訴人們我在公共衛生部門工作，而不是我工作的確切地點，因為這只會變成在討論機構的行為」一位工作人員說
「人們的生活正在根據我們的決定而改變」該機構的一位資深科學家說
疾病預防控制中心主任羅謝爾·瓦倫斯基博士(Dr. Rochelle Walensky)告訴 NBC 新聞：「每次發表那些困難的決定，都會有讚美你的新聞和抨擊你的新聞，我甚至可以到訴你我什麼時候在哪裡做出了這些重大決定，而那些個晚上我都失眠了」
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