室外还需要戴口罩吗？

Scientists and public health experts agree that masks are effective at lowering the spread of the coronavirus indoors, where the vast majority of transmission is likely to occur.

科学家和公共卫生专家一致认为，口罩可以有效降低冠状病毒在室内的传播，绝大多数传播都可能发生在室内。

But what about outside?

那么室外又是什么情形呢？

About two dozen states have statewide mask mandates that generally require people to wear masks outside when they're not able to stay at least 6 feet apart.

大约有24个州制定了全州范围内的口罩规定，通常要求人们在外出时不能保持至少6英尺的距离时戴口罩。

Many cities have their own rules.

很多城市也都制定了自己的规则。

But with vaccinations accumulating, some health experts and journalists are arguing that now is a good time for authorities to ease up on outdoor mask requirements.

但随着疫苗接种数量的增加，一些卫生专家和记者认为，现在是当局放松户外口罩要求的好时机。

Studies have linked transmission to indoor settings far more than outdoor ones, though data is limited and there are plenty of caveats.

与室外相比，研究将传播与室内环境联系在一起的可能性要大得多，尽管数据有限，而且还有许多需要注意的事项。

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, notes that case numbers aren't going down and they've been largely stagnant for the past month or two.

布朗大学公共卫生学院院长阿希什·杰哈博士指出，病例数量没有下降，过去一两个月基本停滞不前。

But he says the situations driving it are groups of people gathering indoors without masks.

但他说，造成这种情况的原因是一群人不戴口罩聚集在室内。

"Once you get outside, it starts becoming really, really uncommon for the virus to spread," he tells NPR's All Things Considered.

“一旦你到了室外，病毒就开始变得非常非常不容易传播，”他在接受美国国家公共电台《考虑到一切》节目采访时表示。

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