American Cruise Passengers Whisked to High-Security Quarantine in Nebraska Amid Hantavirus Scare

Seventeen U.S. passengers from the virus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship have been flown back to America on a government-chartered plane and are heading straight into medical evaluation at a top-tier biocontainment facility.

Upon landing in Omaha, they will be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, home to the country’s only federally funded National Quarantine Unit. There, health officials will assess each person to decide whether they need treatment or can safely head home.

The group was among more than 90 passengers evacuated from the ship on Sunday after it docked in Spain’s Canary Islands. Officials are stressing that the overall risk of a wider outbreak remains very low.

Images from Tenerife showed the passengers stepping off the vessel dressed in blue medical gowns, surgical caps, and face masks. One British national living in the United States was evacuated alongside the American group.

CDC acting director Bhattacharya said officials interviewed every passenger before departure. Risk levels will be determined by whether individuals had close contact with anyone showing hantavirus symptoms — the primary route for person-to-person spread.

“Low risk if no close contact. Medium or high risk if there was,” Bhattacharya explained. Those at higher risk will be offered options, including staying in Nebraska or being safely transported home without exposing others.

All passengers will be required to self-isolate for 42 days under CDC guidance, with continued monitoring by local health departments backed by the federal agency. Since none are currently symptomatic, they will not be tested on arrival.

The Nebraska facility features state-of-the-art negative-pressure rooms designed to contain dangerous pathogens. It opened in late 2019, right on the eve of the Covid pandemic. Officials described the stay as surprisingly comfortable — more “hotel than hospital.”

“They can exercise in their rooms, order food, and we’ll check vital signs and symptoms daily,” said Dr. Michael Wadman, director of the National Quarantine Unit. Anyone who develops symptoms would be moved to the adjacent biocontainment unit equipped for serious infectious diseases.

Health leaders are going out of their way to calm nerves. “This is not Covid,” Bhattacharya insisted. “We don’t want to treat it like Covid or cause public panic. We’re following proven hantavirus protocols that have worked before.”