Not Even Antarctica Could Stop Covid. It's a Crucial Lesson.
Precautions like testing, quarantining and masking didn’t prevent the virus from reaching the globe’s remotest continent, but they most likely saved lives.
Brrrr.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesCovid-19 wasn’t supposed to get to Antarctica. If any place had a hope of keeping the virus out, it would be a continent with no permanent residents and an annual visiting population of only 5,000. And every control measure was in place — testing, a strict quarantine of everyone visiting, as well as lots of deep sanitation, masks and social distancing.
And yet the virus got there in December 2020, less than a year into the pandemic. It arrived at the Chilean base first, spreading to at least 36 people. It later reached the Belgian base, and the Argentinian base, as well as French and British outposts. In 2022, there was a big outbreak at the US McMurdo station, one at New Zealand’s Scott base and even a few cases at the South Pole.