World Health Organization officials have declared that the hantavirus outbreak is not the beginning of a pandemic. But as headlines about the potentially deadly disease mount, many are reminded of the coronavirus pandemic and concerned about America’s preparedness.
“I hope it’s pretty much under control,” President Donald Trump told reporters when asked if he had been briefed on the virus.
But some say his statements don’t inspire confidence.
Dr. Celine Gounder, an internist who specializes in infectious diseases and global health, told reporters on May 8 that “we cannot just hope for a disease that is likely to become a pandemic.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
Concerns about preparedness are further heightened by the administration’s history of actions that medical experts say undermine public health, including spreading health misinformation and prompting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to end long-standing recommendations for childhood vaccines. The responses to the coronavirus pandemic under both the Trump and former President Joe Biden administrations also undermined public trust in medical institutions, including communication failures that former officials have publicly reflected on.
At a May 7 press conference focused on hantaviruses, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, expressed concern that we are “not prepared” for a public health crisis.
“We’ve seen massive funding and staffing cuts in the last year, not only to (CDC) but also to global health, as well as withdrawal from the WHO, downsizing of USAID, and cuts to scientific research,” she said. “So all of this has very serious ramifications. This is a situation that crystallizes the need for biological preparedness.”
Kayla Hancock of the healthcare advocacy group Protect Our Care shared concerns that the Trump administration has made the country more vulnerable to public health threats. Gunner called on public health officials and the Trump administration to be more transparent.
She said that such silence from the U.S. government is not only “unusual,” but that “silence is unacceptable at this time. It breeds conspiracy theories, so I think we should be getting daily updates from the CDC.”
Is hantavirus worse than coronavirus?
However, hantaviruses and coronaviruses are not the same thing.
At a WHO briefing on May 7, Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the organization’s director of disease and pandemic management, explained that hantaviruses are very different from coronaviruses and do not spread in the same way.
“Let’s be clear: this is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the beginning of a coronavirus pandemic,” she said. “This is an outbreak that we are seeing on board ships, (and) there are areas that are closed off. … But this is not the same situation that we had six years ago.”
Dr. Skloot Dwivedi, an infectious disease expert at Hackensack Meridian Maritime University Medical Center, told USA TODAY that in a closed environment like a cruise ship, the risk could be amplified in crowded conditions.
“Health authorities are placing appropriate emphasis on contact tracing, isolation and monitoring of close contacts,” he said in a statement. “Unlike respiratory viruses such as influenza or COVID-19, hantaviruses do not spread easily, so the overall risk to the general public remains low.”
