Updated

Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 22

Last 8 Americans Leave Nebraska After 42-Day Hantavirus Quarantine Tied to 3 Deaths

Updated

Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 22

Last 8 Americans Leave Nebraska After 42-Day Hantavirus Quarantine Tied to 3 Deaths

Q: Why was one passenger forced into quarantine while seven others in the same group stayed voluntarily?

One passenger was kept in quarantine because officials said she could not be released to finish monitoring at home under the required conditions, while the other seven chose to remain in Omaha voluntarily. The passenger, Angela Perryman of Florida, said she was held until the 42-day period ended because Florida would not accept the federal requirement for continuous home surveillance if she returned early. In practice, that meant health authorities did not approve home-based monitoring for her, so she had to stay in the federal quarantine unit. The seven others in that final group were not under the same constraint. They remained at the Omaha unit by choice, even though they were asymptomatic and had not developed illness. Reporting on the response indicates that exposed passengers could sometimes complete monitoring at home if state and local arrangements were in place and the person met public health criteria. Those seven instead stayed at the facility, where they had medical oversight and support. So the difference was not that they faced different symptoms at the end of quarantine. It was that Perryman’s home-state monitoring arrangement was not approved, making her stay mandatory, while the others stayed voluntarily.

3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 22

Eight Americans left the University of Nebraska Medical Center after a 42-day quarantine tied to the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak, ending the last U.S. confinement from the incident.
Thirteen cases were identified among people on the ship, including three deaths, and officials used the six-week monitoring period because Andes virus symptoms have taken up to 42 days to appear.
Eighteen Americans were brought to Omaha after more than 120 people were evacuated in Spain’s Canary Islands; 10 were released earlier for home monitoring, and none of the final eight developed illness.
One passenger, Angela Perryman, said she was held under a disputed quarantine order after Florida refused federal demands for round-the-clock monitoring at home, calling the six-week stay a political stunt.
The outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship raised concern because Andes virus, unlike most hantaviruses spread through rodent contamination, may rarely pass between people.