The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Antarctica remains untouched
How continent stays seemingly immune to the coronavirus.
It’s a place of barren ice, where the all-consuming cold and darkness of winter is fast approaching.
Over the past few months, some 4,000 people from around the world have watched from Antarctica as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps around the globe.
Yet, Antarctica remains the continent that has not yet confirmed a case of the coronavirus.
“Right now, this, Antarctica, is the safest place in the world,” said Alberto Della Rovere, leader of the 35th Italian expedition to Antarctica. “There are no outside contacts, and we’re far away from any settlement.”
Even in normal times, only a limited number of people are allowed in and out of Antarctica, with medical workers screening for signs of influenza and other illnesses before arrival.
While people stationed in Antarctica might be unlikely to catch the virus, they would be at great risk if they did. Most bases would be able to handle a single case of a serious respiratory infection, but they would struggle to contain one that spreads as rapidly as the coronavirus.
Even though the risk may seem remote — for now — keeping the continent from getting its first coronavirus case is a priority for countries with bases there.
‘No better quarantine’
Twenty-eight countries have research stations on Antarctica. The largest is McMurdo Station, a U.S. research base on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, which can support more than 1,000 residents, most of whom stay for a season or two to conduct or support scientific research.
The population of the continent is highest during the Antarctic summer, from October to February.
In winter many stations close and others stay open with skeleton staffs.
In these winter months, the isolation could be a blessing. The harsh conditions make travel in and out extremely difficult, reducing the risk that someone could introduce the virus.
“There’s no better quarantine and isolation than Neumayer Station,” said Tim Heitland, the medical coordinator for Germany’s Antarctica program, of the station where he served as doctor and base commander in 2017.
‘Vials’ of hand sanitizer
As the coronavirus spreads exponentially in the rest of the world, health problems on Antarctic bases remain mostly mundane, though the use of hand sanitizer has gone up.
“We have one doctor here at the base, and she’s been giving us vials that she has been filling with hand sanitizing gel,” Della Rovere said.
So far, however, the closest exposure to the coronavirus anyone in Antarctica appears to have had is reading about it from afar. Satellite phones and the Internet make it easy to stay up to date with the chaos unfolding back home.
“I’ve been involved in the Antarctic activities since 1988, and in my personal recollection, I can’t think of anything that’s had this global, challenging nature about it,” said Michelle Rogan-Finnemore, the executive secretary of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, or COMNAP.
The association offers coordination between the various national Antarctic programs. It has taken a prominent role in advising governments and sharing best practices during the coronavirus pandemic.
Given the close quarters and isolation on stations, infectious diseases are always a matter of concern.
“It’s akin to living on the moon or on the way to Mars,” said Jeff Ayton, chief medical officer at the Australian Antarctic Division. “We can’t do a medical evacuation from our Australian stations for up to nine months” of the year.
Australia and Germany confirmed they had respirators at their stations, but the British and American Antarctic programs would not answer questions about respirators in interviews. Rogan-Finnemore said COMNAP had advised national governments to make sure they had enough oxygen to treat a respiratory infection like
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Alarms raised
Meanwhile, medical officers in Antarctica have plenty of reasons to worry.
“If you have an infectious agent in a remote site with austere medical facilities, it will overwhelm a single doctor,” Ayton said. “We don’t have additional nurses or other trained health-care professionals.”
While many countries closed their stations for winter before the outbreak reached its current intensity, McMurdo is only just finishing its summer season. Planes are still landing and taking off from the airstrip.
Mike England, a press officer for the National Science Foundation, said those entering Antarctica would do so only after undergoing “isolation and testing protocols being overseen by our medical advisers.” While newcomers are screened for COVID-19 symptoms, they are not being tested, he said.
But variations in practices between stations have raised alarms.
“Anywhere there is a point of entry into the continent from a (national) program where there are high case rates, whether it is the United States, or France or Italy, or wherever, you can’t guarantee it,” Ayton said.
Returning home
The Italian summer expedition, which Della Rovere leads, is now making its way back to Italy.
Heitland, who has spent 14 months at Neumayer Station but is working from home in Bremerhaven, Germany, because of the outbreak, said spending a winter in Antarctica changes the way you come think about what we know as mutual responsibility. “You learn what really is important in life,” he said.