JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Right now, there is a vast coronavirus-free world, where other people can mingle without a mask and watch the pandemic spread thousands of miles away.
This global is Antarctica, the only continent without COVID-19. Today, while some 1,000 scientists and others who spent the winter on the ice see the sun for the first time in weeks or months, a global effort is for new colleagues not to bring the virus with them.
From the British study station in Rothera, off the Antarctic Peninsula, which winds towards the tip of South America, box consultant Rob Taylor described what it looks like in “our little bubble. “
In the pre-coronavirus era, long-term isolation, autonomy and mental strain were the norm for Antarctic teams, while the rest of the world’s lives were incredibly extreme.
How they’ve changed.
“In general, the freedoms we are granted are broader than those of the UK at the height of the lockdown,” said Taylor, who arrived in October and absolutely missed the pandemic. “We can ski, socialize normally, run, use the gym, all within moderate limits. “
Like Antarctica groups, adding at the South Pole, Taylor and his 26 colleagues will have to be talented in all kinds of responsibilities in a remote network environment with little margin for error. They take turns cooking, making weather observations and “making a lot of sewing,” he says.
Good Internet connections mean they have closely followed the pandemic that has sw turned around the world. Until this year, talks with new colleagues have been aimed at newcomers. Now the board is going both ways.
“I’m sure they can tell us a lot of things that will suit the new way of doing things,” Taylor said. “We haven’t practiced social est estre yet!”
At New Zealand’s Scott Base, rounds of mini golf and a filming festival with other Antarctic bases were the highlights of the southern hemisphere winter, which ended for team Scott when they sunbathed last Friday, which had been away since April.
“I think there’s a bit of a dissociation,” Rory O’Connor, physician and winter team leader, said of the pandemic from afar. “You recognize it in your brain, but I don’t think we’ve fully taken into account the emotional turmoil this will have to cause. “
His circle of relatives in the UK still did not exchange posts with him. “You can’t sense why I got here, ” he joked. ” Months of darkness. Internal trapped with a small organization of people. Where’s the joy in that?”
O’Connor said they would check the virus once colleagues start arriving on Monday, weeks late, as a massive typhoon has thrown 6-metre blizzards. Any case of virus will cause a “red reaction level,” he said. reduced activities to offer heating, water, electricity and food.
While COVID-19 has shaken up some diplomatic relations, the 30 countries on the Council of Antarctic National Programme Administrators joined forces from the outset to prevent the virus from entering. Officials cite an exclusive team effort between the United States, China, Russia and others that, elsewhere, may have interaction in diplomatic snipers.
When a frightened world closed in March, Antarctic systems agreed that the pandemic may be just a primary disaster. With the world’s most powerful winds and colder temperatures, the continent of the length of the United States and Mexico is already harmful to staff on 40 bases all year round.
“A highly infectious new virus with significant mortality and morbidity in Antarctica’s excessive and austere environment with limited sophistication of medical care and public aptitude responses is at the greatest threat with potential catastrophic consequences,” according to a COMNAP paper published by The Associated Press.
Since Antarctica can only be reached via a few air tickets or by boat, “the attempt to prevent the virus from reaching the mainland will have to be undertaken IMMEDIATELY,” he said.
More contact with tourists, COMNAP warned. ” No cruise ship sends landing. “And for Antarctic groups located very close to each other, “mutual visits and social events between stations/installations cease”.
Antarctica has long been taught to wash its hands and “sneeze,” but COMNAP forgot the reminder and added, “Don’t touch your face. “
During those rushed weeks of definitive flights, the United States “fortunately” improved medical and other materials for winter and beyond, said Stephanie Short, logistics manager for the American Antarctic program.
“We’ve rethrated a total study season in a few weeks, given the point of uncertainty I’ve noticed in my 25-year career in government,” he said.
Antarctic bases sank temporarily in months of isolation known as winter, and now, with the glow of spring, the next great has begun.
Everyone is sending fewer people to the ice during the summer, COMNAP Executive Secretary Michelle Finnemore said.
At the gate of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, Operation Deep Freeze is preparing to air transport 120 other people to the largest station in the US. Usa, McMurdo. .
The American bubble began before leaving the United States in early August and continues until they succeeded on the ice. They were held in hotel rooms well beyond the 14-day quarantine in New Zealand. Bad weather delayed his departure for several weeks, scheduled for Monday.
“We are looking to do a great job of keeping up,” said Anthony German, head of liaison for the U. S. Antarctic Program.
The United States sends a third of its previous summer staff. The studies will be affected, the investment in robotics and instrumentation capable of transmitting knowledge in the box will be of great help, said Alexandra Isern, director of Antarctic sciences of the program of the National Science Foundation of the United States. But it’s not the first time the
COVID-19 outages cause some sadness,” he said. In some cases, we’ll have to have contingents that go through tools in the snow to make sure we can stop them. “
Like other countries, New Zealand will prioritize long-term datasets, some of which began in the 1950s, that measure climate, ozone levels, seismic activity and more, said Sarah Williamson, Executive Director of Antarctica New Zealand. That sends another hundred personas. al 350 ice, she says.
Some systems are postponing operations in Antarctica until next year or even 2022, said Nish Devanunthan, South Africa’s director of Antarctic support.
“I think the biggest fear in the country is being accused of bringing the virus,” he said. “Everyone protects themselves from that. “
Precautions increase in entry cities: Cape Town, Christchurch, Hobart in Australia, Punta Arenas in Chile and Ushuaia in Argentina. Each has quarantine and protocols for personnel boarding planes or ships heading south.
Antarctica still has its challenges, Devanunthan said, but as far as COVID-19 and the foreign network in general are concerned, “I would say it is the most sensible on the list. “
A few weeks ago, at McMurdo Station, staff conducted a training to simulate what the rest of the world knows very well: dressing in mask and social esttachment. “It will be difficult to run and hug friends” once you arrive, said the station manager. Erin Heard.
He and the others will start dressing in a mask two days before the arrivals arrive, he said, “so that we may have a muscle memory. “For the mask, the team ransacked McMurdo’s craft room, filled it with cloth and discovered online creations.
Upon the arrival of his colleagues, Heard will leave Antarctica. I probably would have already planned to thaw on a beach. Now he’s comparing the new standard. “Do I ask a friend to pick me up? I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that,” he said, imagining himself off the plane.
“To be honest, it will be very strange to come from what looks like a planet. “
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Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand.