Seventeen American passengers evacuated from a cruise ship in Spain are being flown to the United States for assessment at a specialized biocontainment facility in Nebraska, federal health officials said Sunday.
The M/V Hondius docked in Tenerife after a hantavirus case was identified aboard. CDC teams met the Americans upon arrival in Spain and conducted initial interviews about their potential exposure. None of the 17 passengers have tested positive for the virus.
The group was scheduled to arrive in Omaha on a chartered flight where they would be evaluated at the Nebraska biocontainment unit, one of the nation's designated quarantine centers.
Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya outlined the evaluation process during a CNN interview Sunday. Health officials will determine each passenger's risk level based on whether they had close contact with anyone showing symptoms. "If they weren't in close contact with someone who was symptomatic, then we're going to deem them low risk," Bhattacharya said. "If they were in close contact, we're going to deem them medium or high risk."
Passengers assessed as low risk will face different options for their next steps. They can choose to remain at the Nebraska facility or return home, provided their residence allows for safe isolation. The CDC will coordinate transport home without exposing other travelers.
Those who decide to return home will remain under monitoring by their state and local health authorities, with continued CDC support.
Bhattacharya pushed back against comparisons between hantavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic. "This is not Covid, and we don't want to cause a public panic over this," he said. "We want to treat it with the hantavirus protocols that were successful in containing outbreaks in the past."
The CDC issued a health alert Friday to clinicians and health departments with guidance on hantavirus symptoms and exposure protocols. The alert came as the agency prepared for the arrival of the American passengers.
A CDC official clarified on a Saturday call that the passengers were not under quarantine orders and that testing asymptomatic people was not recommended, according to reporting.
Author James Rodriguez: "The CDC is walking a careful line here, managing a discrete public health situation without triggering the kind of pandemic panic that still haunts American health policy."
Comments