墨西哥總統不光反對防疫，還到處親別人，專家們要瘋了

As Mexico fast approaches what’s highly likely to be a large coronavirus outbreak, the country’s leadership — mainly its president — mostly insists that everything is fine.

冠狀病毒疫情很可能要在墨西哥大規模爆發了，但以總統爲首的該國領導人大多堅稱一切都好。

In speech after speech, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known by his nickname AMLO, tells Mexicans they shouldn’t fear Covid-19, even as hundreds of thousands of people have confirmed infections worldwide. Despite warnings from global health officials, he continues to hold political rallies, kiss supporters, and request that Mexicans go out shopping to prop up the country’s sputtering economy during a global slowdown.

總統安德烈斯·曼努埃爾·洛佩斯·奧布拉多爾也叫AMLO，他在一個接一個的演講中對墨西哥人說即使全球已有數十萬人確診感染了新冠病毒，他們也無需害怕。儘管全球衛生官員發出了警告，但他仍舉行政治集會、親吻支持者、要求墨西哥人出門購物，在全球經濟放緩的時候以此來支撐本國低迷的經濟。

“Live life as usual,” he said in a video posted to Facebook on March 22, showing him outside at a restaurant. “If you’re able and have the means to do so, continue taking your family out to eat … because that strengthens the economy.”

3月22日，他在一家餐廳外拍了一段視頻，並上傳到了Facebook，他說：“正常生活。如果你有能力，可以的話，就繼續帶家人出來吃飯…因爲這樣能促進經濟發展。”

AMLO’s advice, experts say, is deadly. What makes matters worse is that his policies over the past few years have set the stage for a profound health crisis. In a major effort to cut government spending, AMLO has reduced funds for the country’s hospitals and medical centers by millions. It’s left the nation short of physicians, medical equipment, beds, and coronavirus tests.

專家說總統的建議是致命的。正是過去幾年他出臺的政策爲嚴重的健康危機埋下了伏筆，從而導致情況越發嚴峻。總統爲了削減政府支出，對該國醫院和醫療中心的投資減少了數百萬，致使該國醫生、醫療設備、病牀和冠狀病毒檢測短缺。

That last part is especially frustrating, because Mexico has been hit hard by outbreaks before. In 2009, the H1N1 influenza was identified, originating in Mexico before it spread around the world, killing about 17,000 people in an initial count. (A 2012 Lancet study estimated there were hundreds of thousands of deaths associated with the disease.) Then, Mexico aggressively tested hundreds of thousands of its citizens to identify clusters of infection and stem the tide against transmission, said Alejandro Macías, the “czar” for the government’s emergency response at the time. “We acted then like South Korea has today,” he told me.

最後一個問題尤爲嚴峻，因爲墨西哥以前曾受到過疫情的嚴重打擊。2009年爆發的H1N1流感起源於墨西哥，然後在全世界傳播，最初統計中約有17,000人死亡。（2012年在《柳葉刀》上發表的一項研究估計數十萬人的死亡都與這一疾病有關。）當時作爲政府應急響應特使的Alejandro Macías說，後來墨西哥積極對數十萬市民進行了檢測，確定感染羣，阻止病毒傳播。他告訴我：“我們後來採取的行動和今天的韓國很像。”