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Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

brusselstimes.com

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Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#21

Post by taurath »

Jabbles wrote: post #4
pezzana wrote: post #2

> All staff members preparing to depart to the station had to undergo a PCR test in Belgium two hours before leaving for South Africa, take a PCR test five days after their arrival in Cape Town, where they also had to quarantine for ten days. Another test was required when leaving Cape Town for Antarctica and another PCR test had to be undergone five days after arrival. This is clear evidence that the current paradig…

> ineffective I don't think it's clear evidence of this, but you could definitely say it's not 100% effective. Whether it is useful is not something that you cannot determine from this story alone.

I think if you take the strictest possible quarantine and test paradigms and even those are failing, its certainly fair to call them ineffective.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#22

Post by baxtr »

Gigachad wrote: post #15
Jabbles wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ineffective I don't think it's clear evidence of this, but you could definitely say it's not 100% effective. Whether it is useful is not something that you cannot determine from this story alone.

The problem is being 99.9% effective just isn't good enough. One person slips through and it's all over. It isn't realistically possible to keep covid out of areas.

What is good enough though?

I always thought the whole prevention thing is because we want to “flatten the curve”, remember? Not to prevent every single infection, which is impossible.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#24

Post by [deleted] »

taurath wrote: post #21
Jabbles wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ineffective I don't think it's clear evidence of this, but you could definitely say it's not 100% effective. Whether it is useful is not something that you cannot determine from this story alone.

I think if you take the strictest possible quarantine and test paradigms and even those are failing, its certainly fair to call them ineffective.

[deleted]

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#25

Post by petercooper »

Viruses are interesting things. I once enjoyed a case study about an outbreak of common cold on an Antarctic base that only happened after 17 weeks of isolation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130424/

(I'm no virologist but given that the common cold didn't seem to be impacted by the severe lockdowns in the UK at all, whereas flu was, I've gotten the - uneducated - feeling the cold is a bit like some STDs in the way it can linger around in people and pop up whenever the conditions are right. Maybe some COVID variant will end up similarly persistent and endemic?)

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#26

Post by baxtr »

jobe_br wrote: post #16
pezzana wrote: post #2

> All staff members preparing to depart to the station had to undergo a PCR test in Belgium two hours before leaving for South Africa, take a PCR test five days after their arrival in Cape Town, where they also had to quarantine for ten days. Another test was required when leaving Cape Town for Antarctica and another PCR test had to be undergone five days after arrival. This is clear evidence that the current paradig…

Two options: quarantine bubble failure or incubation longer than .. 15 days? Both are possible, though the former is more likely. 5 day intervals for incubation seem too short for 100% safety. I believe omicron has some data points of longer incubation already.

Most probably people not staying in quarantine or still get infected in transit somehow.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#27

Post by TeeMassive »

midasuni wrote: post #18
Gigachad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is being 99.9% effective just isn't good enough. One person slips through and it's all over. It isn't realistically possible to keep covid out of areas.

New Zealand has done a pretty good job over the last two years. Whether the costs outweigh the benefits is a separate question

They had 1000 community cases today https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/...

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#28

Post by TeeMassive »

petercooper wrote: post #25

Viruses are interesting things. I once enjoyed a case study about an outbreak of common cold on an Antarctic base that only happened after 17 weeks of isolation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130424/ (I'm no virologist but given that the common cold didn't seem to be impacted by the severe lockdowns in the UK at all, whereas flu was, I've gotten the - uneducated - feeling the cold is a bit like some S…

Or the freezing temperatures allows it to survive outside. For example your spit outside the shelter, you go outside 17 weeks later and then come back and remove the snow on your boots which are now covered in contaminated water.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#29

Post by qbasic_forever »

NoblePublius wrote: post #5

Interesting headline choice leading to the sentence “No severe symptoms have been reported as of yet.”

The point of the article is that Antarctica's research stations--some of the most remote and isolated places on the planet--are now suffering COVID-19 outbreaks. This isn't some article trying to massage public opinion or make people feel better about ignoring the pandemic. It's an interesting look at how even places that think they are doing everything correctly to avoid infection are... not avoiding infection.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#30

Post by throwaway788 »

TeeMassive wrote: post #27
midasuni wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Zealand has done a pretty good job over the last two years. Whether the costs outweigh the benefits is a separate question

They had 1000 community cases today https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/...

Thats over the last 21 days. There was 47 community cases yesterday.
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