Last week, I received a package at my home in New York from a kind Chinese friend in Beijing. It contained medical personal protective equipment, including highly sought-after N95 respirator masks (not all masks are created equal: some only protect people from exhaling the virus, rather than inhaling it — the N95 protects from both). “It’s easier to get PPE here,” my friend explained, noting that he had been horrified to hear about the dire shortages in the US (as well as other countries such as the UK) — and had sent the package in sympathy.
上個星期,我在紐約的家裏收到了一個包裹,是一位好心的中國朋友從北京寄來的。裏面有醫用個人防護設備(PPE),包括極其搶手的N95呼吸防護口罩——口罩也有三六九等,有些口罩只防護人們不撥出病毒,而不防護人們不吸入病毒,N95口罩這兩種都防護。我的朋友解釋道:「這邊比較容易搞到個人防護裝備。」他說,聽說美國——以及英國等國——嚴重短缺個人防護裝備時,他被嚇壞了,於是同情地給我寄來了包裹。