Both are isolatie in Dutch, so it can cause confusion. Especially as there are cases where both get used in English (electrics, for instance).
Insulation means placing a material as a barrier two substances or zones (or indeed the material used to do so), whereas isolation means physical separation.
- So your house has thermal insulation, double glazing is a form of insulation, electrical wires have an insulating sheath around them, and marine mammals have a layer of fat as insulation from the cold water.
- Whereas coronavirus quarantine is isolation (hospitals can have isolation wards), physically switching off an electricity group or power circuit is isolating it, or a population of animals evolving alone because they can’t interact with others is isolation.
- Separating out a chemical substance or a microorganism is isolation.
- Isolation is also used for people (such as the elderly living alone) and the emotional state of loneliness or feeling cut off.
Time I got these posts moving again, after a desperately busy finish to the year plus a couple of trips away… inevitably followed by significant periods of (you guessed it) Covid isolation.
Prevalence: high. A widely used word in Covid times…
Frequency: moderate. Scientific writers are often aware of this one, although by no means always. Others will generally use isolation and not consider insulation.
Native: no. Two distinct concepts for us.
Advanced Dunglish 
Good one. Have you considered recept / receipt / presciption / recipe, in this category of errors?
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Yup, that one’s on the list… A nice example. But probably comes up in my work less than yours, though, given your medical specialization.
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