Global health officials are warning that the number of hantavirus cases — which was 11 as of Tuesday — could rise, as one American who was on the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak revealed new details from his quarantine room.
Jake Rosmarin, who is quarantined in Omaha, Nebraska, spoke to NBC News from his room at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He and 15 other Americans will remain at the National Quarantine Center for a few days after returning home from the MV Hondius on Monday.
Two other Americans who returned from the voyage are at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
“I’m happy to be in a place where I know we are well cared for and if anything happens, we have the medical attention that we need,” Rosmarin said on “TODAY,” adding that he has no symptoms and has not tested positive.
Of the 18 American passengers who arrived stateside this week, two are in biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. One is at UNMC, and the other is at Emory.
Since the Hondius departed with almost 150 aboard for a nature-sightseeing mission on April 1, nine cases of the hantavirus have been confirmed by lab results, in addition to two suspected cases.
Three people have died in the outbreak — a Dutch couple and a German national. The body of the first Dutch person to die was taken off the ship as it stopped at the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena. The passenger’s wife traveled from there to Johannesburg, where she died in a hospital days later.
Rosmarin said finding out about the outbreak “was a really scary moment,” especially after an internet search yielded frightening results. But further research led him to realize that hantavirus is well-known, which somewhat calmed his nerves.
He said he stayed in his cabin as much as possible while on the ship, but “it wasn’t really until we arrived in the Canary Islands and I was able to get off the ship that I felt a bit of relief.”
His room at UNMC appears to be a bit of an upgrade from his cruise ship cabin. In a tour he posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Rosmarin showed off a bright red spin bike and a smart TV in an otherwise bare bedroom.
Later Tuesday, Rosmarin found joy in a simple pleasure: He posted that the nurses at UNMC got him a “really good iced coffee” from Starbucks — something he said he hasn’t had in weeks.
“This is everything I needed right now,” Rosmarin said after his first sip.
The luxury cruise ship arrived early Sunday at the island of Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands off West Africa, where passengers started repatriating to their home countries. Passengers received health screenings upon arrival in Spain, the country’s Health Ministry said in a statement.
Officials in the U.S. said those who have not tested positive for hantavirus and are not exhibiting symptoms will remain under medical supervision for a few days. After that, they can self-isolate at home.
As of Tuesday afternoon, none of the 16 patients at UNMC were experiencing symptoms, HHS said on X.
Given hantavirus’s long incubation period of 42 days, “we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization.
In Spain and France, officials have said that everyone exposed to the deadly virus must quarantine for the full incubation period.
Exposed patients in the U.S. have the option to remain in quarantine as well for the full 42 days, said Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska biocontainment unit. She added that she would encourage patients to do so.
Some U.S. patients who left the cruise earlier are being monitored, as are those who may have been in close contact with them in multiple states.
Officials have maintained that the public health system is working exactly as intended.
“Let me be crystal clear: The risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low. The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic,” said Dr. Brian Christine, HHS’ assistant secretary for health.
The World Health Organization is investigating and trying to pinpoint the origin of the outbreak. There is particular attention on a bird-watching trip in southern Argentina, which the first passenger to die took part in before joining the cruise.
American and global health officials have stressed throughout the outbreak that the risk to the wider public is low and that transmission is limited to close contact.
Positive tests have shown up in France, Spain and Switzerland, and nations around the world are closely monitoring those patients, as well as the others who were on the Hondius.
A number of states, including Oregon, Washington and North Carolina, have said they are monitoring reports of people who may have been exposed to the virus.
All of the ship’s passengers and a “limited” number of its crewmembers had disembarked by Monday night. The remaining 27 crewmembers are sailing to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and are scheduled to arrive Sunday, Oceanwide Expeditions said.
This isn’t the first hantavirus outbreak in recent history.
One documented “superspreader” outbreak occurred in Argentina in 2018. Thirty-four people were sickened after several people with hantavirus attended a variety of social events, including a birthday party. Eleven people died.
Despite that, Dr. Brendan Jackson, acting director of the high-consequence pathogens and pathology division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged that there’s a lot more to learn about hantavirus.
“It’s important to remember that we’re very early in this outbreak,” he said. “The risk to the public is very, very low at this time, but that doesn’t mean we’re letting our guard down.”
