The Disease Management Organization has concluded its analysis of the air samples, blood samples and surface samples it has taken from KSC and its employees over this past week. It looks like a normally harmless bacteria has mutated slightly in the generations since kerbals have lived on the surface and has been infecting kerbs here at KSC over the past few weeks. On its own, it causes minor symptoms from coughing to shortness of breath to dizziness and several kerbs have been struck by it lately but none were incapacitated enough to actually check in to the medical center. Recently however trees from the Grasslands to the west have been releasing a large amount of pollen into the air, and kerbs spending more time out west in the Grasslands (field researchers, mostly) were the first to become affected, as the pollen brought about a mild allergic reaction in almost everyone that then allowed the bacterial infection to also grow more serious as the body defended from attacks on two fronts. The entire of KSC was affected after a large wind storm passed through the area, stripping large amounts of pollen from trees and depositing it over KSC.
It’s actually not so surprising that we might encounter diseases on the surface that are slightly or even extremely mutated from pathogens that were encountered in the past when surface living was more widespread. Given that the Kerbal Space Center is the one location on the surface were kerbs have lived above ground for an extended period of time, if any sort of epidemic were to happen it would happen here. The tree pollen especially is something that kerbals haven’t had to deal with for a few generations – underground there are moss spores but no trees.
The bacterial infection that began this whole ordeal needs to be purged from the KSC – surface swabs have found colonies growing in various places around the campus and the entire facility will need to be decontaminated. The DMO expects this to take a week at least, so we will be moving all staff to a quarantine facility in Umbarg City where everyone will be checked over and cleared of bacterial infection while the KSC itself is also cleaned. We hope to be back at KSC by Feb 27th.
All of our sick are being treated for the bacterial infection and are recovering well. We did have one death of an elderly staff member but an autopsy has since shown it to be from natural causes and not directly related to the bacterial infection.
Moving forward once operations resume, we will be setting up better medical protocols for field researchers returning from science expeditions as well as for UTV teams returning from balloon launches. Air quality monitors will let us know when pollen levels become high enough to cause problems. Living on the surface certainly brings back old challenges, but we’re working to adapt once more.
The full timeline of events can be viewed below, and will be updating until we return to KSC. You can click on the bookmark icon to return to that point in the timeline if you need to leave and come back.
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KSA ops will be suspended from 1/11-1/16 while various work on our facilities is undertaken to repair some more building issues we've found
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contractor says this is the earliest they can get the work done. Wish it could have been over Dec break but that's a holiday for *everyone*
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Simon has just informed Drew that KSC facility repairs were done very well - we shouldn't have any more leaks, creaks, shorted wires, etc
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lots of sneezing going around lately - Simon says he has kerbs taking another look at materials used for the recent facilities repair work
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Jeb, Bill & Val say they've been struggling to keep up their physical regimen lately - winding up short of breath and often stopping early
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MedCenter doctors have advised their current regimen is a bit over-the-top even for them & they simply need to break it up into smaller sets
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there's been a rather large uptick in admissions to the MedCenter this past wk. Please follow proper hygiene protocols in public work spaces
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doctors are posting notices around campus: please report to the MedCenter immediately if you feel lightheaded/dizzy and/or short of breath
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we now have 1/4 of our staff out sick, including Cheranne, who was already stressing about all the papers she still has left to review
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the MedCenter is becoming quite crowded and many patients have been transported to Umbarg. Medical staff is starting to become concerned
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officials from the Disease Management Organization have arrived - it looks like the situation has become more serious. Meeting w/Drew now
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DMO agents are working through the campus, taking random surface swabs and air samples. All employees please cooperate with them as needed
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we will comply w/ DMO officials request to shut down KSC tmrw so all employees can be screened to see if any carriers exist among unaffected
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KSA/C7 operations are mostly suspended today while KSC is shut down to allow screening of all employees on campus for any disease carriers
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KSC is also under quarantine so after screening all employees must return to their berths in either the astronaut complex or support village
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several of the DMO agents have fallen ill, some of whom had no prior contact to any KSC employee. They've now gone to full HAZMAT protocols
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for now, things proceeding as planned, with employee screening continuing throughout the afternoon before any additional decisions are made
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there has been one change to protocol, which is that no one is allowed to travel outdoors w/o a HAZMAT suit & the company of a DMO agent
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employee screening has wrapped & only a few new cases have been admitted to the MedCenter. Good news is no one has come close to dying yet
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KSC remains closed & under quarantine while the DMO continues w/ its investigation. We will share any news we receive from them immediately
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it seems the number of sick have tapered off, but those that have been sick since last week are still having trouble, some on respirators
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all the symptoms have been pointing towards something airborne, not from kerbal to kerbal but from the environment around KSC they think
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astronauts have a gym indoors, but also Jeb is catching up on his gaming, Bill his reading, Bob his word puzzles & Val her meditation
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Wernher's been among the sick for a few days, is under light sedation because he kept trying to tell the medical staff how to do their jobs
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no, we won't be announcing any further MK3 details tomorrow. Cessation of operations, even temporary, has thrown off our entire schedule
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everyone is frustrated to some extent, but we also hope all our sick pull through & trust the DMO to do their job & figure this all out soon
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Day 3 of quarantine and not everyone is going stir-crazy. Flight Director Lanalye is still feeling fine & outlining tons of launch protocols
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additionally the DMO has setup a temp airtight corridor between the astronaut complex & mess hall so no need to suit up & decon for food!
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unfortunately while R&D labs have been cleared to operate due to their climate control, the VAB & HAB cannot be sealed & remain closed down
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our three new Progeny Mk3 lower stage boosters are ready on schedule in Sheltered Rock & are waiting for shipping to be allowed again to KSC
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DMO agents continue to assure us they are working as fast as they can & say they are already through more than half of the blood samples
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no new cases of sickness reported, seems staying indoors has helped. HVAC can't filter viruses so spores/pollen of some sort are to blame
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we've gathered all the info we can about the health situation here in our weekly ops sitrep. Everyone feel better! bit.ly/OpsSummary2-6-…
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unfortunately, one of our sick workers passed away in her sleep last night. She was getting on in years - unknown yet if natural or disease
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astronauts say running in a HAZMAT suit is not exercise, it's torture. They've since given it up for the gym treadmills, but they did try
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oh yes, the DMO is most certainly working on things over the weekend - everyone wants this to be over with as soon as possible, rest assured
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Disease Management Organization agents have informed Drew that they expect to finish all blood sample analysis today, have report tomorrow
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the Disease Management Organization reports that KSC needs to be shut down & fully decontaminated. We're not happy, but health is important
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we hope to be back at KSC again by 2/27, in the meantime KSA ops will move to Umbarg. Full report available here: bit.ly/KSCShutdown
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everyone spent the day getting packed up - as in just the stuff we need out of the way of the decon teams when we're not here next week
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by Thurs all staff will finish this up & pack personal belongings to move out to Umbarg over the following weekend. Decon ops will begin Mon
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good news to start off the day is that most of our staff that got sick first are finally showing improvement with continued treatment *phew*
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Flight Director Lanalye doesn't waste any opportunity - she has been studying the DMO HAZMAT agents for protocols to use on surface EVAs
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another day of packing went well. DMO agents have been helpful, although they mostly continue their own experiments, swabbing & air sampling
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we may be temporarily moving out of KSC, but we can still accept contracts, as we did with HGR earlier today for bit.ly/GenesisProgram
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packing up KSC is now complete, everything will certainly be neat & organized when we get back. Personal items now being packed up for move
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everyone is ready to begin heading out tomorrow to our temporary homes in Umbarg, where a quarantine zone has been setup for all KSC staff
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the temporary facility is already occupied by a good number of staff who have fully recovered, they say they'll make sure all is rdy for us
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busing schedules have been posted to all buildings & emailed to all employees. Please be at your debarkation stations at least 15min early
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KSC evacuation proceeding well. More DMO agents arriving as KSC staff leave, getting their decontamination program up & running for next wk
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Eve & Moho at appulse from the support village as Val waits to board her bus with the other astronauts. Duna also visible high above
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a nice orderly day of transport for our staff & crew, everyone who departed today made the trip to Umbarg w/o incident. Remainder leave tmrw
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sunset from the tunnel access to Umbarg City, along which the remainder if KSC staff will be traveling today. So long for now, KSC!
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KSC evacuation completed, no one there now but the DMO decontamination teams. We'll keep everyone posted on their progress over the next wk
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we'd like to stress that KSC is shut down, not the KSA. We have moved offsite & operational capacity is limited but still doing what we can
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KSC decontamination begins today. They will start with the support village before tackling the KSC campus so we can move back in sooner
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over half of our sick employees have made full recoveries so far, and the same is expected for the remainder over these next few days, yay!
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KSC decontamination is proceeding on schedule according to the latest report Drew has received from the DMO. All our staff are healthy again
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everyone will be spending the next few days getting tested & cleared out of quarantine, can visit anywhere before returning to KSC next wk
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DMO says they have fallen behind schedule thanks to a major equipment malfunction. Looks like they won't have KSC cleaned up until Feb 28th
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the support village however was finished earlier this wk & we can still start moving staff back on Monday & be rdy for ops to resume 3/1
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staff & crew cleared out of quarantine are using this "vacation time" to visit with friends & family. Everyone will be recharged next week!
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today we start moving kerbs back to KSC, starting with any staff living in the support village, while DMO gets back to decontamination ops
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DMO reports pollen levels have fallen drastically in the last few days, is unsure however if the "mating season" for trees is over or not
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we have almost all of our support village staff moved back in, the rest will return tomorrow along with astronaut complex crew & tenants
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KSC as seen from the top of Building B in the support village on a lovely day, great to be back! Final staff/crew arriving this afternoon
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DMO agents have given KSC the all-clear! We're set to resume operations tomorrow as well as enact our new environmental monitoring protocols
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busy day for everyone to start getting caught up on work that was unable to be done while offsite, which wasn't as much as we feared
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kerbs are saying they actually notice the difference in the air with our new filters installed, which can catch much smaller particles
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it was a great half-week back at KSC, still plenty to get caught up on via bit.ly/OpsSummary2-27… - have a great weekend everyone!
