The cruise ship MV Hondius (Oceanwide Expeditions) which has been trying to find a port following an outbreak of Hantavirus, will be permitted by Spain to transfer passengers at the island of Tenerife. There are 17 Americans on board who will be transferred by the CDC from Tenerife to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Once there, they will remain in isolation for 42-days under observation.
(VIA CBS) – World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Tenerife Saturday to personally oversee the painstaking process of evacuating more than 100 people from a cruise ship dealing with an outbreak of the rare and deadly hantavirus.
Addressing the people of the Canary Islands, where the ship will anchor off the coast of its largest island, the WHO chief said the public’s concern is legitimate after what the world experienced in 2020 during the global coronavirus pandemic.
“This disease is not COVID,” Tedros said, reiterating a letter he wrote earlier Saturday. “The risk to the local population is low.”
Tedros said that the nature of the hantavirus is not the same as the coronavirus, but “that trauma is still in our minds.”
“That’s why also I came here,” he said. “To be on the side of the people because saying things from far could be easy. But I had to change my plans to come here because this is very, very important to the whole world and to the people of Tenerife as well.”
Eight people on the cruise ship had confirmed or suspected cases of the hantavirus and three people have died, the WHO said on Friday. None of the 147 people currently on board, including 60 crew members, are symptomatic, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, which owns the vessel.
Tedros estimated Saturday that there will be six evacuation flights headed for the EU and four for non-EU countries.
There are 17 Americans on the MV Hondius, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, who will be taken off the ship in a small boat, taken to shore and immediately to a plane on the runway waiting for them. The plane, provided by the U.S. government with oversight from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will take the Americans to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, according to the CDC.
“I’m sure they’re very anxious to get home, but (we need) to make sure they do that in the most safe way possible,” Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s acting director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, said at a press conference on Saturday.
Each country with passengers on board the ship will proceed with a similar evacuation to awaiting planes, according to the Spanish Health Ministry.
The WHO said it was recommending each country keep the passengers removed from the ship in isolation for 42 days from the last point of exposure to the virus. (Read More)
Just another reason to avoid cruise ships.
Tedros can get bent.
I think the murder rate in Chicago is about to drop dratically. Everyone will now die of hantavaris.
BREAKING: Man died, declared first hantavirus victim after being decapitated in a motorcycle accident.
Man died in a hunting accident ruled a hantavirus death.
Give them Ivermectin!
Most cruise companies sell themselves on the idea that you can have all of the comforts and protections of “America” while traveling to distant ports – clean lodging, good food, background checked English speakers taking care of you, good medical care on board, safe and fun shore excursions planned by knowledgeable, well vetted local companies…
Unfortunately, as some people only find out too late, pretty much NONE of those things are true! The odds are still in your favor, especially if you are young and healthy, but there are also the unlucky ones who find out firsthand that the ships are flagged in foreign ports (no US legal protections apply) the staff is usually unvetted people from the 3rd world with less than stellar hygiene (to put it mildly), the kitchens are often filthy (again, sanitary issues with staff who do not always clean equipment well) the doctor is actually an independent contractor and NOT an employee of the cruise line (makes it almost impossible to sue for malpractice) and the shore excursions often follow the lax safety standards of the country in which the occur (possibly happened in this case – tourists were allowed to get way to close to what sounds like an incredibly unsanitary landfill, in order to see certain birds?).
All in all, no thank you very much!! But, like so many other areas in life, for the people who “enjoy” going on cruises, the facts about it are inconvenient and therefore NOT welcome!
More CIA fear porn, distraction timing on this is why now? hmmmmmmm
weird fact: gene hackman and his wife both died under mysterious conditions. wild theories circulated and then it was determined his wife died of hantavirus, likely exposed from deer mice which are carriers. a human can get infected when these mice urinate in your house, on your things, like dishes, silverware, tables, chairs, shoes, toothbrush. Sadly, the cause of death for Gene Hackman was indirectly related to his wife’s cause of death. He had advanced parkinsons’ and relied 100 percent on his wife to support him. He died of starvation. It would also appear that at least of of the dogs also died of starvation.
I dunno why I write all this stuff. the link between hantavirus I guess ….but also the peculiar circumstances of two deaths. Really weird stuff.
anyway…hantavirus is no joke. If you can get treatment early and your health and immune system is strong, you have about a 70 percent chance of surviving. But if you are not in good health, older, a weak immune system, and do not get help until you get full blown symptoms. 100 percent mortality. Symptoms do not always appear immediately. This explains why the quarantine in Nebraska for 42 days.
also noting: there are several different classes of hantavirus. we cannot simply assume based on the ports of call from this ship which type has infected the ship. The most likely vector was rodent infestation. But one would want to know where the food supply was routed, as that is most likely going to give you the regional hantavirus type. Other than lab testing obviously.
also noting: hantavirus, orthohantavirus genus., 37 known species. the typical transmission is respiratory…breathing fine particles of mouse urine, feces, and “other” mouse fluids. Another less common transmission to humans is being scratched or bites from a mouse/rodent. Only one species (Andes) of this virus has been confirmed evidence that the virus can be transmitted human to human. However, when examining the genomic sequences differences between all 37 species, one would be wise to assume that human to human transmission is not only possible, but likely. The virus is RNA tripled segmented at approx. 70–350 nanometers (nm) = over the counter masks are not effective! One of the reasons why hantavirus has such a high mortality rate is because it is very very rare and human beings do not have memory of this type virus, unlike for example the common cold, a corona virus.
also noting: while the plan appears to be a 42 day quarantine, if that extends to 3-6 months will be a reasonable signal that those people are infected and in recovery. recovery can take a long time and since the virus can lay dormant for quite a while and there is no known vaccinne or cure, they would extend the quarantine for quite a bit of time well after the 42 day preliminary hold.
yep, not making any plans to cruise ship…never did float my boat
God Bless America
NOROVIRUS!!!
Because hantavirus isn’t contageous enough…
{ Over 100 Passengers and Crew Stricken with Highly Contagious Norovirus on Caribbean Princess Cruise Ship }