Hantavirus Ship Gears Up for Evacuation Within 24 Hours

Seventeen U.S. citizens are gearing up for evacuation from a cruise ship afflicted by Hantavirus, with plans to transport them to Nebraska for medical observation.

Images from the ill-fated MV Hondius reveal the 147 passengers attempting to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst global scrutiny. They have been seen engaging in activities like watching soccer, enjoying tea, and observing whales.

Evacuation procedures are anticipated to commence between Sunday and Monday, coordinated alongside the Spanish authorities once the MV Hondius makes port in Tenerife tonight.

Passengers will disembark the vessel clad in full protective attire, organized by nationality, and will be promptly taken to an awaiting aircraft for their onward journey, according to officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Department have dispatched a repatriation aircraft specifically to retrieve the 17 Americans, as confirmed by the State Department.

The Americans will be flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha. It was originally reported that they would be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to be housed in the school’s National Quarantine Unit, the country’s only federally funded quarantine facility. 

‘We are prepared for situations exactly like this,’ Michael Ash, the CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement. 

However, on Saturday, the CDC said federal officials will not be requiring a mandatory quarantine and will not be testing passengers unless they present symptoms. 

The 147 passengers on the ship are expected to be evacuated within the next 24 hours. They will offload grouped by nationality and will be taken directly to their country’s plane to be repatriated  

Passengers on the ship are entertaining themselves by watching soccer matches 

A man gets himself a glass of hot water at the tea station. The 17 Americans will be flown to Nebraska and will not be forced to quarantine. The CDC is recommending home monitoring 

A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius

‘It is not recommended to test people that do not have symptoms,’ a CDC official said, according to ABC News. ‘We are not quarantining anybody.’ 

So far, no American on the cruise ship has presented symptoms of Hantavirus. However, if they do start presenting symptoms, they can be treated at the school’s Biocontainment Unit, which is a highly specialized facility meant to treat ‘high-consequence’ infectious diseases. 

‘People should know these facilities were specifically designed to prevent exposure to the public. There is no risk to the community from people being cared for in these units,’ Ash said. 

The National Quarantine Unit has 20 rooms that employ individual negative pressure systems and has its own en suite bathrooms. Patients would have had access to WiFi and exercise equipment. 

However, now the government is recommending home monitoring and to limit their activity outside the house. 

The National Quarantine Unit will be available for the passengers to use. 

In addition, the CDC is alerting US doctors and hospitals to be aware of a potential surge in Hantavirus cases across the country that stem from the cruise ship. 

However, officials are still saying an outbreak in the US is extremely low.  

Others are reading the news to pass the time. So far, no passenger on the ship is presenting symptoms 

Others are sightseeing on the ship. So far three passengers have died on the ship, including a Dutch couple believed to have brought the virus on board after bird watching 

Passengers on the the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat during their voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife

The passengers will also not have contact with civilians on the Canary Islands, Virginia Balcones, the secretary general of civil protection, said. 

‘All the areas they are going to travel through are going to be isolated,’ she said. 

Prior to leaving the ship, the passengers will be evaluated to check if they are presenting symptoms. None of the passengers currently on board are experiencing symptoms. 

The CDC has sent a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to ‘conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American passenger.’ Crew members were pictured waiting to be interviewed by epidemiologists on the ship on Wednesday.

So far, nine cases have stemmed from the cruise ship, including three deaths. 

It is suspected the Dutch couple who died may have brought the virus on board, as they were bird watching in many areas that carry the Andes strain, which is the only one that is transmissible between humans. 

Hantavirus, which has a 40 percent mortality rate, usually spreads by inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and may be transmitted from person to person, though that is rare, according to the World Health Organization, whose top epidemic expert said the risk to the public is low. 

Several Americans are already being monitored in the States after it was revealed a dozen passengers left the ship earlier in the journey. 

Crew members of the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait to be interviewed by epidemiologists who went aboard the vessel Wednesday

A tent has been set up in Tenerife to receive the passengers. Passengers will be evaluated for symptoms when they leave the vessel

Six disembarked MV Hondius on April 24 on the island of St Helena, 13 days following the first death on board, operator Oceanwide Expeditions revealed on Thursday.

The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed it was notified by Oceanwide about one resident who had been on the ship.

In California, the Department of Public Health said it was alerted by the CDC about residents who were on board.

New Jersey became the sixth state monitoring for Hantavirus after a resident may have been exposed on a plane.