U.S. quarantines MV Hondius passengers in Nebraska amid hantavirus outbreak

The National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska became the controlled landing point for American passengers pulled from the M/V Hondius after a hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship, while federal officials said the danger to the broader public remained extremely low. The response centered on safe repatriation, monitored movement, and strict isolation rather than any open-ended public health alarm.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine said they were asked by the federal government to “receive and monitor” U.S. citizens from the ship. Those passengers were moved through a U.S. government medical repatriation flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha and then transferred to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, where the country’s only federally funded quarantine unit is located.

That unit opened in November 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, with a previous $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. The 20-bed facility has individual negative-air-pressure systems and was built to house people exposed to highly hazardous communicable diseases. UNMC and Nebraska Medicine said they were coordinating with the Douglas County Health Department, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and federal health partners.

As of the latest reporting, 16 American passengers had arrived at UNMC. Fifteen were in the quarantine unit and one person who tested positive was in the biocontainment unit. Two other American cruise ship passengers were flown to Atlanta for further assessment and care. Earlier reporting said 17 Americans had been aboard the ship, though it was initially unclear whether that count included seven passengers who had already disembarked and returned home.

The World Health Organization identified the strain as Andes virus, a rare hantavirus that is the only known hantavirus capable of person-to-person spread through prolonged close contact with an ill person. Reports said 11 confirmed and probable cases were identified aboard the ship, including two confirmed deaths and one suspected death. One American passenger was reported to have tested mildly positive, while another developed a mild cough that later resolved. Spanish officials said the positive result was considered weak and not conclusive in one lab, but U.S. authorities treated it as positive out of caution.

Nebraska officials stressed that the quarantine system was designed to keep the situation contained. Nebraska DHHS said there was no threat to public safety and noted that symptoms can appear 4 to 42 days after exposure, with an average onset of about 18 days. The state has reported fewer than 10 hantavirus cases since 1993. Dr. Michael Ash said the teams had trained for decades with federal and state partners, and Dr. John Lowe said asymptomatic passengers would simply walk off a plane, enter a vehicle, and proceed to quarantine. Gov. Jim Pillen said state health officials were fully engaged with federal and university partners, and Omaha Mayor John Ewing said the city was proud to answer the call.