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OMAHA — Empty, at least for now, is the Omaha-based National Quarantine Unit that for six weeks hosted American cruise ship passengers exposed to a deadly hantavirus.
All 18 people sent to the unit May 11 for monitoring because of an outbreak on the MV Hondius have returned to their respective states in “top shape,” University of Nebraska president Dr. Jeffrey Gold said Tuesday.
The last six “guests” cleared out Sunday. Others left the Omaha facility at various times.
Gold joined Gov. Jim Pillen, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medical officials at a media event to touch upon lessons learned, patient feedback and what might be ahead.
All who spoke generally praised local medical staff and the 18 people Gold referred to as “guests.”
Pillen recalled weeks earlier, when he said Nebraska officials had “no idea” of what to expect or what could happen.
“This was the most amazing and the greatest outcome we could have ever asked for,” he said. “No hantavirus occurred here or in the United States.”
To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm no related cases in the U.S. As reported previously, three people died, two while on the Dutch polar expedition ship and one at a clinic in South Africa. Several others got sick and the world was on alert.
Pillen said America should be assured: “Nebraskans stand ready to address the next difficult, highly infectious deadly disease. No matter what the risk is … ”
With the escalating and deadly Ebola outbreak in Africa, the officials responded to a potential Nebraska role.
Angie Vasa, director of biopreparedness and special pathogen programs for Nebraska Medicine, said local officials have not formally been asked to accept any affected patients.
However she and Dr. Michael Wadman, medical director of the quarantine unit, said their teams are prepared to respond.
Asked about whether local quarantine space might ever expand beyond the existing 20-bed capacity, Gold took the podium and discussed UNMC’s planned 1.56 million-square-foot Project Health teaching and hospital care complex. He said discussions are underway with federal partners including the Departments of War and Health and Human Services as to whether they want additional space in or adjoining the $2.19 billion facility to be funded by public and private sources.
Said Gold: “Those conversations are ongoing right now, perhaps even more acutely precipitated not only by the hantavirus experience … but also by what’s going on in western Africa right now.”
He said the Ebola outbreak should be “on all of our radars given the rapidly expanding numbers.”
According to the CDC, as of Monday, there had been 1,068 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, making this Ebola outbreak the second largest on record. There have been no confirmed cases in the United States.
During the hantavirus quarantine, Nebraskans showered medical personnel and passengers with emotional support, the officials said.
Gift baskets were plentiful. Wadman said Loveland Elementary students and a La Vista junior high band sent letters. Runzas were delivered. Omaha steaks were grilled in the parking lot.
A passenger shared a recipe with a caregiver for avocado mango salad. Others recommended good books to read.
“Lots of great examples of people working together to get through the six weeks,” Wadman said.
Passengers offered feedback, and Vasa said lessons learned were shared with other federal partners to improve future missions.
For example, a “daily town hall” proved helpful for those in the quarantine unit. Isolation wears on physical and mental health, Vasa said, and the “safe space” allowed questions and concerns to be aired. Passengers also were informed about daily tactical operations.
Medical needs arose beyond those related to why the passengers are being monitored, she said, reinforcing the need for ready access to other services.
Said Wadman: “Every time we activate we get a little better.”
The local quarantine facility, he and others say, is the only federally funded unit designed specifically to safely house and observe people who may have been exposed to high consequence infectious diseases.
If someone develops symptoms, they’re moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit to receive treatment ranging from clinical monitoring to critical care. That unit, activated in 2014 to treat American Ebola patients evacuated from Africa, has a voluntary staff of select nurses, doctors and infectious disease specialists.
Both quarantine and biocontainment units were activated locally in 2020 for the care and management of U.S. citizens from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess Cruise ship who were exposed to COVID-19.
While Tuesday’s media event mostly touched upon positive aspects, national news outlets have interviewed upset passengers. The New York Times on Sunday reported complaints by one woman who said she had been forced to stay longer than she wanted. She said the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., signed an order, despite a CDC medical review that she be allowed to go to Florida.
According to the Times, the woman’s attorneys were considering litigation, which prompted a DHHS spokeswoman to say the order was needed “in absence of proper home monitoring by state authorities.”
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