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OMAHA — The first five of 18 cruise ship passengers diverted to the Omaha-based National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center over hantavirus exposure have been allowed to finish their preventive waits at home to make sure they are not sick.
UNMC and Nebraska Medicine confirmed the moves a day after the federal government coordinated their transportation home. The feds used chartered private planes, officials in the receiving states have confirmed to other news outlets. Local health departments will monitor the patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CNN and other national outlets spoke with relocating patients, some of whom had chafed at being forced to quarantine states away from loved ones and work after spending more than a month aboard a Dutch cruise line that stopped in parts of South America and Antarctica.
Thirteen passengers of the polar-exploring MV Hondius ship remain at UNMC’s quarantine unit, which is also home to biocontainment expertise and infrastructure the nation used to help monitor and minimize harm from the early known U.S. spread of Ebola and COVID-19.
All 18 of the passengers were “strongly encouraged” to stay at the National Quarantine Unit for the full 42 days it can take for the symptoms of hantavirus to appear. But the federal requirement that they stay expired on May 31, which gave passengers the choice. None has shown any symptoms of hantavirus.
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Those who have chosen to stay have told national and local outlets in their home states that they are doing so because of the specialized care for unique diseases available at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine.
Local health officials will monitor the released patients 24/7 until the window of exposure risk closes on June 21, the CDC says. Worldwide, health officials have confirmed or deemed probable 13 cases of hantavirus, the Associated Press reported. The Andes strain of the virus is primarily spread through rodent droppings. The risk of this strain is that human-to-human spread is possible, though no cases of that have yet been confirmed.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen described the moves this week as a “positive development” and said it was “encouraging that many of our guests are remaining at the NQU for the last few weeks of their hantavirus quarantine.” He said the people who elected to leave are lower risk.
He reassured Nebraskans that the presence of people at risk of contracting hantavirus is no danger to public health. The quarantine unit takes extra precautions to contain diseases, including proper disposal of the clothes medical providers wear to treat patients.
“No guest who poses a public health risk will leave the NQU onto the streets of Omaha in an unsecured way or at an inappropriate time,” Pillen said in a statement Tuesday thanking UNMC staff and other states for their help. “These thoughtful and well-coordinated departures meet that standard.”
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