There is a fracturing public health response to the hantavirus outbreak that was first detected aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius in April.
The Hondius departed Argentina April 1 and was sailing north on a 33-day journey when passengers began falling ill. Three people died before the ship docked May 10 in Tenerife, Spain, where passengers disembarked and were repatriated. The CDC classified the outbreak as a level 3 emergency response — its lowest activation level — and is monitoring Americans across more than a dozen states for potential exposure.
The Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain known to spread person to person, has a fatality rate of roughly 38% among patients who develop respiratory symptoms, according to the CDC. None of the Americans have tested positive.
Two developments to know:
The $750,000 evacuation
According to the Associated Press, the Trump administration spent $750,000 to charter a private yacht, the Titaina Explorer trimaran, to evacuate an American citizen stranded on Pitcairn Island, a British territory in the South Pacific with roughly 50 inhabitants, no airport and limited maritime access.
The woman had been aboard the Hondius when the outbreak occurred, then traveled to Pitcairn via Tahiti without disclosing her exposure, AP reported.
French Polynesian authorities subsequently refused to allow her to transit back. The U.S. is transporting her to Easter Island, a Chilean territory with direct flights to Santiago. The total cost is still being assessed, according to the report.
The evacuation has added strain to the State Department’s emergency “K Fund,” now at its lowest level in seven years, and the department is considering transferring up to $50 million from other accounts — including $35 million from embassy security and construction budgets.
CDC and Florida at odds
Florida health officials are pushing back on CDC quarantine guidance for Hondius passengers, declining to implement round-the-clock home surveillance, according to NBC News.
Angela Perryman, a Florida resident whom the CDC ordered to remain at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit, has advocated to leave the unit and return home, but Florida officials have refused.
“The state does not believe unnecessarily intrusive restrictions are warranted when established public health practices can effectively protect both public health and personal freedom,” a Florida Health Department spokesperson told NBC News.
Eight American passengers remain at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit, while 10 have returned home under state surveillance. The full 42-day quarantine period ends June 22.
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