One passenger currently has “mild symptoms” and another tested “mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus,” HHS said in a statement Sunday.
WASHINGTON — Two of the 17 American citizens who were aboard the hantavirus-hit cruise ship are being flown back to the United States in biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution,” the Department of Health and Human Services said Sunday.
“One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus,” HHS said in a statement posted to X.
All 17 passengers are being flown to the University of Nebraska, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.
It’s unclear when the Americans will arrive in Nebraska.
The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told CNN’s “State of the Union,” the passengers will be given the choice of staying in Nebraska or going home, where their conditions would be monitored by state and local health agencies.
“We are not quarantining anybody,” a CDC official told reporters Saturday.
He noted that seven Americans who left the cruise have been in the U.S. for roughly two weeks, and they are living across the country. In response to them being home already, the CDC said it initiated state-level monitoring of those people and those who were potentially exposed.
The World Health Organization, which the United States is no longer a part of, is only offering guidance to the 20 countries passengers are from.
“We are leaving this up to the countries themselves to actually develop their own policies,” American epidemiologist Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove told the AP. “But our recommendations are very clear, and this is really a cautionary approach to make sure that we don’t have any opportunities for this virus to pass from others.”
Three people have died since the outbreak began.
Health officials say risk to public is low
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak.
“We have been repeating the same answer many times,” he said. “This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”
Even so, those disembarking and workers at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife wore protective gear during the evacuation process, including hazardous materials suits, face masks and respirators. Video obtained by The Associated Press showed passengers on the tarmac donning similar suits and being sprayed down with disinfectant.
Passengers were relieved to be on their way home, another WHO official told the Associated Press.
Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings, and the disease not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Passengers and disembarking crew members left behind their luggage and were allowed to take only a small bag with essentials, a cellphone, a charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam, Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.
The journey to Rotterdam takes about five days, the cruise company said.
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