TERESA GUERRERO
@teresaguerrerof
Madrid
Updated Saturday, March 21, 2020 - 12:16
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On the world maps showing the dizzying spread of the coronavirus, there is a single continent that is not yet red. Remote Antarctica has not registered any cases of COVID-19, despite the fact that the pandemic has coincided with the southern summer, which is the time of year that brings together more scientists, technicians and military personnel in this frigid laboratory of nature.
The approximately 80 bases built on this immense ice continent in which 26 Iberian peninsulas could fit, welcome in the summer about 5,000 people, which reduce to around 800 or 1,000 in the winter . Spain has two bases, both operational during the summer months: the Juan Carlos I scientific base, in Livingston, and the Gabriel de Castilla military base, in Deception Island.
"Some countries, like the US, Argentina, Chile or the United Kingdom, have open bases in winter, there are even people who get to stay two years in a row in Antarctica," says Antonio Quesada, technical secretary of the Spanish Polar Committee, by telephone. The largest is the American McMurdo, with capacity for more than 1,200 people, while China, very interested in expanding its activities in Antarctica, is building its fifth base in this territory.
The scientists and military who go to work each year are joined by tourists, who are allowed to spend a few hours in the most virgin territory on the planet. " This year 80,000 tourists were expected in Antarctica but in the end it has been reduced to around 65,000 or 70,000, " Quesada said in a telephone conversation.
There are countries like China that even let them enter some of its facilities and visit its Great Antarctic Wall (Great Wall) - the oldest of its bases and in which some 40 people work in the summer. But coronovirus has changed routines this year.
That there has been no positive case of COVID-19 does not mean that Antarctica is escaping the impact in the rest of the world. The Asian giant reduced the activity planned in its bases as soon as it became known of the epidemic in Wuhan: " They have not allowed personnel exchanges, since December 31 they only let people leave and tourists are not allowed to visit," says Quesada. .
The campaigns of the other countries were developing normally, but the rapid spread of the virus throughout Europe has also affected other bases, including the two Spanish ones, which have reduced the duration of their summer campaigns: "We have had to close ahead of schedule (between March 14 and 15) to try to get to Ushuaia as soon as possible in order to return to Spain, " explains Jordi Felipe, head of the Juan Carlos I base.
He writes on board the Spanish oceanographic research vessel Hespérides, just after passing the hectic pass of the Drake and a few hours before his arrival in the Argentine city on March 18. Hundreds of Spaniards are now traveling in the Hespérides, among the scientists and military personnel who were at the two bases when they were closed in advance and the members of the crew of this ship, which each year travels from Cartagena to Ushuia or Punta Arenas and from there to Antarctica.
Already during the journey they learned that due to the coronavirus, the Argentine authorities would only allow them to collect food and fuel but not to disembark since 14 days had not passed since the last time the Hesperides was in the same port. "They have done enough to let us dock at the dock, other ships are simply anchored," says medical captain Andrés Villoria López, head of Health at the Gabriel de Castilla base.
The odyssey to return to Spain
His plan was for the 37 military and scientific personnel who were at the Antarctic bases Juan Carlos I and Gabriel de Castilla to return to Spain by plane, as usual, while the 58 crew of the Hespérides would make their journey to Cartagena, which lasts around a month -the ship is in charge of taking all the material that the Spanish will need for the approximately four months they spend working to Antarctica. But Villoria acknowledges that they still do not know if they can return to Spain by plane. " We are aware that, like us, there are tens of thousands of Spaniards around the world who want to return to their homes with their loved ones," he points out.
Faced with the impossibility of flying from Argentina, they will try their luck in Brazil in the next few hours: "After leaving Ushuaia, we have traveled the Magellanic channels and are now anchored near the Le Maire Strait, waiting for the weather to subside and become navigable to take heading to the north of Brazil, "he recounted during the early hours of Saturday. Afterwards, they will go overland from Santos to Sao Paulo hoping to catch a flight there that will bring them to Spain.
The perception of the pandemic far from home
Most of the Spanish military and scientists who have participated in this year's campaign left for Antarctica when the coronavirus was not known to exist and will return to an alarmed and armored country. In less than three months, the world has changed and suffers the greatest crisis since World War II. How do you live from such a distant and isolated place? "Initially, with concern and nervousness for family and friends. After this, it only remains to try to stay calm and see the different scenarios facing the return," says biologist Jordi Felipe, one of the Spanish veterans in Antarctica.
" It has been lived, generally with some anxiety, especially among the crew members who have a partner and children . At first, everything seemed to be the result of an exaggeration, and the outbreaks of collective hysteria were lived with perplexity. For the moment, I thought it could not be so serious and, of course, I never imagined that we would reach this situation, "admits medical captain Villoria.
Protection measures
In order to remain a coronavirus-free territory, the Council of Administrators of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) has sent the Polar Committees of the countries present on the frozen continent a document with security recommendations that it updates periodically - the latest version is from March 16- because, as this international organization highlights, "the situation is constantly changing".
These include that tourists cannot visit research centers . They are the most sensitive population because, in addition to the risk of contagion because they do not submit to the quarantines that the personnel working in Antarctica do, many of those who embark on these expensive polar cruises are elderly people. That is why, before this coronavirus, many Antarctic programs had already suspended interaction between tourists and ship personnel with their campaign members.
Although most of the people participating in the expeditions are young and in good health, COMNAP stresses that they, too, may experience moderate symptoms that can have a major impact on the operational capacity of the bases.
COMNAP also calls for the suspension of all non-essential trips and visits to the various bases, which must review and improve their health and safety conditions, their ability to make diagnoses and for telemedicine. Instructions are also given to prevent the coronavirus from spreading across the continent if a positive case occurs at any base.
"In our case, since we did not have more entries from people [at the Juan Carlos I base] we have not had to change anything in our day to day but we did have to inform ourselves for the return to be able to adapt. The information has been" filtered "by doctor we had at the time at the base, "says Jordi Felipe, the head of the Juan Carlos I (CSIC) base.
Nor have they taken any special measures in the Gabriel de Castilla, "except for the general recommendations that have been made in Spain and, in general terms, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): "Given the isolation that exists at our base, no special COVID-19 protocol was required," says Villoria.
Six months of isolation
Other bases, the least, are open all year, and as Antonio Quesada points out, those in the interior of the peninsula are totally isolated . Antarctica is a very hostile continent as a whole but there are much more inhospitable areas than others, and if evacuating personnel is not easy in many areas, in others it is impossible during the winter.
"There are two different areas. The Antarctic Peninsula, where the two Spanish bases are, has easier access to South America, is two or three flights away and although the conditions are very harsh (in winter there are usually around -25ºC with a thermal sensation -40ºC), there are more possibilities of evacuation, even in winter.The last plane usually flies in April or May, and the first one enters October or early November. In addition, Chile usually makes one flight a month in small planes with capacity for 16 or 18 people, "says this Antarctic expert.
But the Antarctic continent, he adds, is much harder: the typical winter temperatures are around -50ºC but in the Russian Vostok station, for example, they can reach -70ºC: "In March the last flight leaves and there is usually no other until October Six isolated months are spent because the temperatures are so low that the planes cannot land because when they stop they would freeze, "says the scientist, who recalls that the minimum measured temperature on Earth, -92ºC, was recorded in Antarctica and that the CO2 we exhale freezes at -56ºC.
However, Villoria does not believe that the severity of the outbreak requires closing these open bases during the southern winter as a precautionary measure. "In fact, I think that if someone is safe right now in some corner of the globe, they are the permanent bases of Antarctica ; they have the means to endure there all year round, totally isolated from the pandemic. Surely they should restrict visits that do not prove to be virus-free . However, I cannot imagine the anguish of those who stay there for their relatives, "he admits.
Another scenario that epidemiologists are considering is that the current outbreak will be controlled in a few months and will pick up next fall, but Villoria considers that it is the current pandemic that is going to have effects in the next research season: "An Antarctic campaign is something which requires a lot of preparation and previous programming. The coronavirus is already having consequences in the preparation of the next campaign (difficulty in moving the components, to make meetings, etc.) Although the resolution that characterizes the Armed Forces will undoubtedly If it can be done, it can be done, "says Villoria, who is currently stationed at the Air Force Medical Evacuation Unit (UMAER) at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base.
This medical manager is of the opinion "that the coronavirus has come to stay and, in the next outbreak, things will be calmer, since there will be no contagion in a surge and it will be more like seasonal flu. I am almost sure that there will be a second outbreak, and a third, I see that it is a very difficult disease to eradicate . "
In practice, how will Antarctic bases prepare to deal with future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks? "In my opinion, it is not a question of incorporating technical equipment or concrete facilities, given that, if that path is chosen, that of an" isolation module ", let us say, the material and personal equipment that it requires is so technically advanced and expensive to economic and logistical level that is not justified. Antarctica is a continent that hardly has diseases due to its natural absence of contagious vectors and the hostility of the environment. "
From his point of view, " the greatest danger of contagion is the" human visits " that one receives when one is there, and these usually come from far away and have spent their quarantines on board ships. As a measure, they can establish stricter pre-visit protocols that include disinfection measures, as is already done for the preservation of the environment , for example. "
"I think it is a virus that is going to be incorporated into the battery of diseases that we humans have to face annually given its high infectivity rate and its low mortality rate. And it will not take long for mutations to appear annually and we will have to fight it as seasonal flu after this initial outbreak, "reflects Villoria. "However, it is one of the weaknesses of our world in the 21st century, one day someone gets a coronavirus infection in Beijing and in the afternoon he is coughing on a New York cafeteria employee."
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