Would you sign up to catch a deadly disease and live in isolation for weeks? These friends did

CBC News | Lauren Pelley | November 17, 2022

On an overcast afternoon in Halifax, Amy Mullin has wrapped up her remote workday — filled with emails and video calls — and is getting ready for yet another night alone.

She's going to do virtual yoga with her friend Tato Crisanto and maybe a distanced movie night, with the pair planning to hit "play" at the same time on their respective laptops.

During this time of being stuck inside 24/7, all by herself, Mullin says she feels like a bit of a hypochondriac.

"I sneezed two times in succession, and I was kind of like — oh no — is it starting?"

That isolation and anxiety might feel overly familiar, but Mullin isn't talking about catching COVID-19 or enduring a lockdown in early 2020.

Instead, after years of restrictions and rapid tests and far too many Zoom calls, Mullin and Crisanto both signed up for several weeks alone in separate hospital rooms, all for the sake of science.