Guidelines for winter health

With the temperature falling, it’s clear that autumn is coming. But with weather changes, concerns follow – it’s also the flu season.
暑渐消，秋渐起。但随着天气发生变化，令人担忧的事也随之而来 —— 流感季到了。

As humans may face risks of both flu and COVID-19 in autumn and winter, on Sept 10, the latest technical guidelines for flu vaccination were issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).
由于人们秋冬或许将面临流感与新冠病毒的双重威胁，中国疾病预防控制中心9月10日印发了流感疫苗预防接种最新的技术指南。

The CDC recommended key populations such as medical staff, teachers, students, children and those aged 60 and above receive flu vaccines.
中国疾控中心建议，医务人员、教师、学生、儿童以及60岁以上的老年人等重点人群应接种流感疫苗。

Autumn and winter are the periods that usually have a high incidence of flu, according to Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the China CDC.
中国疾控中心流行病学首席专家吴尊友表示，秋冬通常是流感的高发期。

Coughing, fever and sneezing are common symptoms of the flu, but may also be signs of COVID-19 infection.
咳嗽、发烧、打喷嚏是流感的常见症状，但或许也是感染新冠病毒的迹象。

There may also be cases where a person is infected with both COVID-19 and influenza. These patients will have more severe symptoms, according to the CDC.
此外，也有可能会出现新冠病毒与流感双重感染的病例。中国疾控中心表示，这些病患会有更严重的症状。

Because of the similarity of symptoms, it is important that measures should be taken to ensure the proper precautions. This will also ease pressure on health care workers during this time.
由于症状相似，因此采取措施进行适当预防至关重要。这也能缓解医务工作者在这一时期的压力。

Therefore, an effective solution is to vaccinate certain populations against the flu as early as possible, Wu said.
因此，有效方案便是尽早为特定人群接种流感疫苗，吴尊友表示。

In fact, influenza shouldn’t be underestimated. There are 3 to 5 million severe cases of influenza every year and 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory disease-related deaths around the globe, according to Global Times.
事实上，流感不应被轻视。据《环球时报》报道，全球每年有300-500万例流感重症病例，29-65万人死于呼吸道疾病。

According to the China CDC, there is an average of 88,000 flu-related deaths every year in China. However, China’s flu vaccination rate was only around 2 percent per year, which is far lower than that in some Western countries. The rate is around 70 percent in the US and 84 percent in South Korea, China News Service reported.
中国疾控中心的数据显示，我国每年平均有8.8万例流感相关呼吸系统疾病超额死亡。但中国每年的流感疫苗接种率只有约2%，比一些西方国家的接种率要低得多。据中新社报道，美国与韩国的流感疫苗接种率分别为70%左右与84%。

As for this year, according to Feng Luzhao, an expert on public health and vaccination from Peking Union Medical College, the vaccination rate could increase to 4 percent.
至于今年，北京协和医学院公共卫生与疫苗接种专家冯录召认为，流感疫苗的接种率将升至4%。

And the number of flu vaccines issued in 2020 is expected to reach 50 million doses. That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic has raised people’s awareness of vaccines. More people will want to get flu shots, Global Times reported.
2020年流感疫苗的批签发量预计将达到5000万剂。这是因为新冠疫情提高了人们接种疫苗的意识。据《环球时报》报道，更多人想要接种流感疫苗。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高二804期