Having followed 2 South Pole "winterover" scientists blogs for 3 years - including one of a German man who spent 14 "winterovers" there <http://www.antarctic-adventures.de> - here are some possible reasons for a midwinter outbreak of disease there:
1. Once a week the entire station crew does "House Mouse" duty over a 24 hour period where they sanitize all touched surfaces including floors. Could be that living in such a hyper-clean bubble weakens their immune systems from lack of daily interaction with the outdoor environments in which we humans evolved. 2. They do not get any sunlight on skin outdoors in winter. Low natural Vitamin D despite having heat/UV lamps. Best station environment is the indoor hydroponic greenhouse full of growing plants they use for food and herbs. But being hydroponic it is not a normal earth environment. 3. Much of the food they eat in winter has been outdoors frozen for over 5 years. 4. Almost all overwinters end up with a bad case of cabin fever at some point during the midwinter becoming anti-social, seriously ticked off at one or more of their fellow overwinter crew. Stress hurts the immune system 5. Virtually all get "the crud" shortly after first arrival at the station and again for the overwintering crew as the summer crews arrive. A nasty head and lung cold. Very ljkely from stress of the very high altitude of the station; its super, super dry air; and sudden close quarters with a lot of new people who have gathered in the last 2-3 weeks from all over the world.
The "happy camper" of 14 overwinters at the South Pole had this mid-winter survival strategy and he seemed rarely ever to be mentally or physically sick:
1. He would always be on the "midrats" schedule as one who was awake "at night" when the majority of the staton residents sleep. 2. He spent the bulk of his working time at a telescope building a long walk away from the main station with the dorms, cafeteria, gym, etc. Thus, he got serious physical exercise everyday unless a wind storm preventing him getting to the cafeteria. Most nights for him he slept in his double room in the main station. He would get itchy to leave the station as the big summer crews arrived and he would lose his extra bedroom as the station filled up and winterovers like him would often "decamp" to the small quonset hut summer dorms before they filled up with summer crews. 3. He made himself at his telescope work site a big computer screen set-up to fly an airplane simulator all over the world. 4. He constantly experimented with outdoor photography specializing in long aurora movies. 5. Every midwinter he would teach to anyone a course in outdoor star and aurora gazing. 6. He happily socialized with everyone, both the scientists and those doing the station maintenance tasks - two social groups which sometimes acted like Hindu castes each sticking physically and mentally to their own kind. 7. He organized annual mid-winter social events for everyone such as a pretzel & beer German fest and Yuri Night to celebrate Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight. His dream as a young man was to be an astronaut so he looked at his South Pole working life like being on a very long deep space mission.
Re: Looking Back on Covid
1. Once a week the entire station crew does "House Mouse" duty over a 24 hour period where they sanitize all touched surfaces including floors. Could be that living in such a hyper-clean bubble weakens their immune systems from lack of daily interaction with the outdoor environments in which we humans evolved.
2. They do not get any sunlight on skin outdoors in winter. Low natural Vitamin D despite having heat/UV lamps. Best station environment is the indoor hydroponic greenhouse full of growing plants they use for food and herbs. But being hydroponic it is not a normal earth environment.
3. Much of the food they eat in winter has been outdoors frozen for over 5 years.
4. Almost all overwinters end up with a bad case of cabin fever at some point during the midwinter becoming anti-social, seriously ticked off at one or more of their fellow overwinter crew. Stress hurts the immune system
5. Virtually all get "the crud" shortly after first arrival at the station and again for the overwintering crew as the summer crews arrive. A nasty head and lung cold. Very ljkely from stress of the very high altitude of the station; its super, super dry air; and sudden close quarters with a lot of new people who have gathered in the last 2-3 weeks from all over the world.
The "happy camper" of 14 overwinters at the South Pole had this mid-winter survival strategy and he seemed rarely ever to be mentally or physically sick:
1. He would always be on the "midrats" schedule as one who was awake "at night" when the majority of the staton residents sleep.
2. He spent the bulk of his working time at a telescope building a long walk away from the main station with the dorms, cafeteria, gym, etc. Thus, he got serious physical exercise everyday unless a wind storm preventing him getting to the cafeteria. Most nights for him he slept in his double room in the main station. He would get itchy to leave the station as the big summer crews arrived and he would lose his extra bedroom as the station filled up and winterovers like him would often "decamp" to the small quonset hut summer dorms before they filled up with summer crews.
3. He made himself at his telescope work site a big computer screen set-up to fly an airplane simulator all over the world.
4. He constantly experimented with outdoor photography specializing in long aurora movies.
5. Every midwinter he would teach to anyone a course in outdoor star and aurora gazing.
6. He happily socialized with everyone, both the scientists and those doing the station maintenance tasks - two social groups which sometimes acted like Hindu castes each sticking physically and mentally to their own kind.
7. He organized annual mid-winter social events for everyone such as a pretzel & beer German fest and Yuri Night to celebrate Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight. His dream as a young man was to be an astronaut so he looked at his South Pole working life like being on a very long deep space mission.
W.R.