My post from September 16, 2020, stated “Antarctica remains free of COVID-19.” Unfortunately, that no longer applies. It’s true only for US bases. COVID-19 is now in Antarctica.
COVID-19 cases have been found in Antarctica
The first outbreak was reported at station Bernardo O’Higgins operated by Chile on the Antarctic Peninsula. A supply ship arriving from Chile in November 2019 allegedly carried the infection to the base (The Guardian – COVID in Antarctica). All told thirty-six infections resulted. I find this troubling because the crew of that ship passed a negative PCR test before sailing from Chile.
The latest news comes from the Belgian station Princess Elisabeth also on the Antarctic Peninsula. Eleven cases were detected in December 2021. Officials believe a resupply from Cape Town, South Africa carried the infection (News Nation – Antarctica and COVID).
As of April 29, 2022, according to the US National Science Foundation, all three US bases in Antarctica (see below) remain COVID-free (USAP April 2022). The pandemic, however, made a profound impact on the US Antarctic Program (USAP). In early 2020 USAP began curtailing access to its bases via Chile and New Zealand (USAP April 2020). The bases remained functioning with smaller crews but they postponed science projects not underway.
USAP implemented precautions, including quarantine for staff and scientists in New Zealand and Chile before going south to Antarctica and testing for COVID. They don’t require vaccinations as of an August 2021 posting. Last year, during the 2021-2022 season, science activities contracted to 30-40% of usual levels. Construction and updating of facilities at the three bases have been postponed. This caused a backlog of USAP science, construction, and upgrade projects that likely will not happen until later in this decade.
Old news-So far as we know, Antarctica remains free of COVID-19.
Sep 16, 2020…An LA Times story outlines what that’s like. The continent is famously devoid of life and that includes viruses. Only about one thousand folks live isolating there now at the various research bases kept humming through the Southern Hemisphere winter. Now it’s spring and an invasion is about to start. Usually, this totals more than four thousand researchers and staff once the whole continent is up and running. But USAP now plans to short staff by two-thirds of the crews at the research stations of over two dozen nations.
Three US bases in Antarctica
The U.S. runs three main bases; Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula adjacent to the tip of South America, South Pole Station at that eponymous location, and McMurdo Station or Mac Town due south of New Zealand.
Those folks installed at these and other nations’ stations have endured isolation over the winter but have not been totally cut off as satellite-linked Internet is widespread now. My first trips in the late 1980s and early 1990s found no Internet or even phones at U.S, bases. Mail, when correctly delivered, was rare and sporadic. So, isolation is different now.
Anyway, you can’t hug your family at home from there or even here in the U.S. these days.
Antarctica may be a sterile place but I recall the infamous “McMurdo Crud” washing over that station. Every so often a visitor from the World would bring down a nasty cold or the flu even, to share with a cramped, mostly indoor population. Pre-visit quarantine in New Zealand is now in effect to thwart this possibility.
Access to Antarctica is through a few entry points
Even so, there are only a few choke points to access Antarctica so isolation and effective quarantine are straightforward to set up but the execution is challenging. Palmer is only accessed from southernmost Argentina by ship. McMurdo is accessed by air from Christchurch New Zealand, and the South Pole is reached by air from McMurdo.
Other nations access Antarctica from southern Australia, South Africa, and several Asian and European countries. Virtually all of these are by ship and with small numbers of folks. If Antarctica’s machinery of international cooperation works smoothly then the continent can remain bug-free.