Experts say hantavirus is different from the new coronavirus and is not a pandemic
Health experts explain why the current hantavirus outbreak cannot be compared to the new coronavirus and why the public health risk in the United States remains low.
Passengers from the hantavirus-infected expedition ship MV Hondius are expected to begin disembarking in carefully controlled groups in Tenerife early on Sunday, May 10, as the World Health Organization coordinates a massive international repatriation operation following multiple deaths from an outbreak on board.
According to an update from Oceanwide Expeditions on May 9, the ship is scheduled to arrive at Granadilla, the industrial port of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, at 5:30 a.m. local time on May 10. Passengers and a limited number of crew members will begin disembarking around 8 a.m. local time and be transferred directly to waiting aircraft.
The company said passengers will disembark under strict health protocols by either Zodiac ships carrying up to five people or boats carrying up to 10 people. The timing of each group’s disembarkation will be coordinated with repatriation flights organized by governments and international organizations.
Oceanwide Expeditions said it was not involved in the testing or repatriation process led by the WHO and national authorities.
WHO says Tenerife residents will not encounter passengers
In an open letter addressed directly to Tenerife residents on May 9, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to reassure local residents worried about the ship’s arrival because of memories of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let me hear this clearly: This is not another coronavirus,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”
Ghebreyesus said there are currently no symptomatic passengers on board and that WHO experts have confirmed that they remain on board. He also detailed the extensive precautionary measures planned for the evacuation operation.
“Passengers will be transported ashore by ferry through a completely cordoned corridor in sealed and guarded vehicles to the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, and will be repatriated directly to their home countries,” he wrote. “You’ll never run into them.”
Americans headed to the Nebraska quarantine
WHO and governments spent several days coordinating flights for passengers from more than 20 countries.
At a WHO briefing on May 9, Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, the agency’s acting director-general for epidemics and pandemic management, said passengers who developed symptoms during the evacuation would be immediately transferred to a medical evacuation plane and flown to the Netherlands for treatment.
Healthy passengers will board country-specific repatriation flights in Tenerife.
The US State Department confirmed that repatriation flights were being arranged for the Americans aboard the ship. After returning to the United States, the passengers will be taken to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
CDC officials said epidemiologists and medical teams will conduct an exposure assessment of the American passengers and monitor them during the recommended 42-day observation period.
Outbreak linked to at least three deaths
The WHO announced that eight people have fallen ill in connection with the outbreak, three of whom have died (a Dutch couple and a German national). Six people have been confirmed to have Andean hantavirus infection, and two are still suspected of being infected.
Spanish health authorities announced on May 8 that a woman tested negative after traveling with a passenger who later died of hantavirus, but that additional preventive testing was planned.
After passengers disembark, the Hondius will pick up supplies before heading to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where it will pick up the remaining crew of around 30 people. Oceanwide Expeditions said passengers’ baggage will be left on board and returned separately.
USA TODAY reporter Sara Moniuszko contributed to this report.
Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@usatodayco.com or on Twitter @athompsonUSAT.
