Researchers report Covid outbreak at isolated Antarctic station

This reminds me of a similar incident I read about some time in summer 2020. If I remember correctly, it was about a container vessel on which people were catching Covid, even though the vessel had been at sea for weeks and everyone had tested negative before.

Any idea what's going on in those incidents?

I looked at research papers from the beginning of the pandemic. I don't remember the exact statistics, but it was something like: 95% of cases became positive within 14 days. But then a few outlier ones became positive through day 22. And then there were a very few freak cases that turned positive after 30 days or so.

Even if you threw out the super-outliers after day 22, you're still left with about 5% of cases showing up in week 3. I believe some Asian countries are requiring 3 week quarantines for this reason. However, in the US, we've pushed quarantine to 10 days, and most recently 5 days (?!?!).

And there's still the issue of asymptomatic cases. A person could get asymptomatically ill on Day 22, and maybe a PCR test would still fail. In that case, we'd have to wait 10 days for their symptoms to resolve. So we're at least 32 days out for a true "quarantine." Round it up to 40 for good measure and we're back to where we started in the middle ages -- the word "quarantine" comes from the word for "forty," meaning 40 days quarantine to prevent the Black Death from spreading.

I don't know how likely the scenario is of a person turning positive on day 22, and then a PCR test failing to pick it up. The problem is, nobody seems to know that, because the research showing how UNsafe we are (potentially) is strongly disincentivized. The CDC keeps reducing quarantine time in a naked tribute to business interests. And yes, I use the word "tribute" intentionally.

I volunteer as Tribute....for The Economy.

Omicron in general tends to have a shorter incubation period, but obviously not always. From what I glean from this article, it appears one individual got sick 17 days after starting the quarantine process -- again, well within the 22 day incubation period of the original sars-cov-2. It would be great to know now what the outer incubation period is of Delta and Omicron, but we don't, because it's not in anyone's interest for us to know.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

Polar researchers in remote Antarctica have fallen victim to coronavirus, despite taking strict health precautions, being fully vaccinated and miles from civilization.

Two thirds of the 25 staff based in Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have caught Covid, the Le Soir newspaper reported, proving there is no escape from the global pandemic.

The Omicron outbreak happened despite all staff passing multiple PCR tests, quarantining and living in one of the most remote places in the world.

The situation has echoes of the plot of John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic The Thing, which was advertised with the slogan “man is the warmest place to hide”.

An alien life form infects workers on an Antarctic station in the cult Sci fi chiller, which starred Kurt Russell. Unlike the film, none of the infected Belgians have exhibited any severe symptoms - let alone been transformed into bloodthirsty beasts that can only be killed by incineration.

All 25 researchers were fully vaccinated and one had a booster shot. Before leaving for the station, they underwent a PCR test in Belgium two hours before flying to South Africa. In South Africa, they quarantined for ten days and took another PCR test. A further test was needed when leaving Cape Town for Antarctica and a final one five days after that.

One person tested positive seven days after arriving at the station on December 14. The person was isolated but tests revealed two others had caught the virus. The three were evacuated on December 23 but the virus has continued to spread.

It is thought to be the Omicron variant because that is responsible for 99 per cent of infections in South Africa. There are two emergency doctors at the station, which will not allow any new arrivals until the virus dissipates.

Belgium’s Polar Secretariat has decided the research season will be shortened and that staff shall stay there until at least until January 12, when new expeditions will arrive.