The U.S. government is preparing an emergency evacuation operation to transport 17 American citizens from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which has been linked to a hantavirus outbreak resulting in three deaths and multiple infections. The specialized flight, coordinated by federal officials with Spanish authorities, is expected to bring the Americans to the United States after the vessel docks in Tenerife, Canary Islands, between Sunday and Monday.
"Each individual will have their own room." — Michael Wadman, Medical Director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit
The outbreak aboard the luxury expedition vessel has been associated with eight cases of hantavirus, including five confirmed infections and three suspected cases. Health officials have confirmed that three individuals connected to the outbreak have died, raising international concern due to the involvement of the Andes strain of hantavirus, which possesses the capacity for person-to-person transmission in limited circumstances.
The evacuation flight is being chartered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as confirmed by the State Department to CBS News. Passengers are slated to disembark in small groups following hantavirus testing, while international authorities coordinate the complex transportation and quarantine procedures involving multiple nations.
Upon arrival in the United States, the evacuated Americans will reportedly be flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. From there, they will be transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC) specialized biocontainment and quarantine facility. The CDC plans to deploy a support team to Nebraska to assist health officials in conducting comprehensive exposure risk assessments for the arriving passengers.
Michael Wadman, medical director of the university’s National Quarantine Unit, detailed the preparations for the arrivals. He stated that each traveler will be housed in an individual quarantine room to ensure isolation and continuous medical monitoring. "Each individual will have their own room," Wadman noted, explaining that the facility is equipped with internet access, exercise equipment, and accommodations designed to support longer quarantine periods should extended monitoring become necessary.
The UNMC biocontainment unit, which opened in 2019 following a $20 million federal grant, has a history of managing highly infectious diseases. It previously treated patients during the Ebola epidemic and was instrumental in housing some of the earliest COVID-19 patients at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, emphasized that the hospital system was specifically designed to manage dangerous infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies involving international travelers, according to reports from the Daily Mail.
Health officials have indicated that none of the American passengers slated for evacuation currently exhibit symptoms of hantavirus. However, several other passengers who had previously departed the MV Hondius are already under quarantine in various U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed the broader public risk from this outbreak as low. President Donald Trump addressed the situation on Thursday, stating that officials believe the outbreak is "very much, we hope, under control." The 17 Americans potentially exposed to hantavirus are expected to arrive in the U.S. and enter mandatory isolation at the Nebraska biocontainment unit as early as next week. The coordinated effort underscores the ongoing challenges of managing infectious disease outbreaks in a globally connected world and the critical role of specialized medical facilities in safeguarding public health.
