Here’s what astronauts and submariners say about coping with self-isolation

Apr 2, 2020

Irish doctor David Quigley poses as he self isolates in his parents home before joining the frontline at a Dublin hospital after he left a job early in Australia to help tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Dublin, Ireland, April 1, 2020. REUTERS/ Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly

Staying home is one of the most effective ways to curtail the spread of the virus. Image: REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

Sean Fleming

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Toting the Mir Environmental Effects Payload (MEEP), astronaut Linda M. Godwin, STS-76 mission specialist, translates along the longeron of the Space Shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay starboard side during the March 27, 1996, Extravehicular Activity (EVA). During the docked phase of the mission, astronauts Godwin and Michael R. (Rich) Clifford teamed to mount the MEEP experiments on the Russian Mir Space Station Docking Module (DM). The experiments collected micrometeoroid debris for more than a year. The MEEP experiments were removed from the DM during a spacewalk in November 1997, and returned to Earth on STS-89 in January 1998.

Astronauts have to go months without human contact. Image: NASA

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