Posted on 01/08/2022 10:52:00 PM PST by Enlightened1
A research station in Antarctica is battling a COVID-19 outbreak despite being located in one of the most remote corners of the world.
Since mid-December, 11 of the 33 workers at Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Polar Station have tested positive for the virus.
Joseph Cheek, a project manager for the International Polar Foundation, which manages the outpost, told ABC News that the first case was reported on Dec. 15 in a worker who had traveled to Antarctica with a group via South Africa despite strict testing and travel requirements.
Before arriving in South Africa from their country of origin, the workers were required to have a negative PCR test at least 72 hours prior to the flight. The employees then had to quarantine in South Africa for 10 days and take another PCR test five days into the quarantine period.
Once the quarantine period was over, each person was required to take another test 48 hours before their flight to Antarctica and five days after arrival.
It was on the sixth day after arrival that the first worker tested positive followed by two more workers.
The three patients were evacuated on Dec. 23 but, following their departure, an additional eight people were confirmed to have the virus.
The workers had all been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one having received a booster shot.
Cheek said all the cases have been mild and there are currently no cases at the Princess Elizabeth station.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I wasn’t posting opinion, just a fact :) Both sides will blame the other side.
Oops wrong thread. Pls ignore.
A vaccine is not an automatic guarantee that the bacteria or virus against which someone is being vaccinated will never register at a detectable level or cause disease. Much depends on the immune status of the vaccinated. Older people and people with impaired immune systems will take longer to clear the virus than a younger/healthier population, during which time they may test positive. Also if the virus mutates from the original target of the vaccine like it has with covid, the vaccines will become less effective.
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